


Foggy Nights, Clouded Thoughts

by bringtheraincomprix (vespidrankka)



Series: Foggy Nights-verse [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, I Will Go Down With This Ship, ok now im getting into it this is going to get pretty angsty, some discussion of post-akuma effects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-28 05:44:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12599508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vespidrankka/pseuds/bringtheraincomprix
Summary: Sabrina doesn't understand why Paris's new turtle hero has started paying her visits late at night after his patrols, or why he's so obsessed with hot chocolate. And ginger biscuits.She also doesn't understand why Nino has been disappearing every time there's an akuma around.Maybe he's Queen Bee.(Fluffy Nino/Carapace x Sabrina, with some angst later on. Because I can.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't posted my writing online for years so this will be fun...
> 
> Also I have been dragged completely into this rarepair, help me

From her vantage point in her window seat, she could look over the street below, fog clouding and blurring the headlights of the cars which droned by. Wiping her glasses, as if that would bring the clouded road into focus, she stared out idly at the city as it began to quieten for the night. A single copy of tomorrow’s homework lay neatly completed on the desk across the room, her own name written neatly at the top.

Sabrina smiled. Nino had insisted, after a few cancelled dates, that the homework situation with Chloe had to stop, and thankfully, Adrien had backed him up against Chloe’s backlash. Unfortunately, coaching Chloe was proving nearly as bad as just doing the work herself; despite her and Adrien’s best efforts, any attempt to encourage Chloe to find the answers herself were still met with blank looks, or worse, haughty disdain.

So every evening, Sabrina’s phone buzzed every minute or so instead, as Chloe demanded each answer as Sabrina worked them out, interspersed with complaints about Nino, Marinette, her father, one classmate or another… Recently, though, Chloe’s ire had been focused on Carapace, the turtle hero and newest addition to Paris’ superhero line-up. It seemed he could do no right in Chloe’s eyes; he was ‘a wimp’, ‘even worse than Chat Noir’, ‘detracts from the team, he should just let Ladybug and Queen Bee get on with it…’.

Sabrina wasn’t fazed. Chloe rarely had anything good to say about anyone, save herself and sometimes Ladybug. Before Carapace, it had been Rena Rouge who was ‘useless’. Oddly enough Queen Bee had been spared the third degree, in fact Chloe seemed reluctant to even discuss the bee heroine at all. She had plenty to say about the others, but would fall strangely silent when Queen Bee was mentioned, though Sabrina could see she was still listening intently.

If she didn’t know better, Sabrina might have suspected Chloe _was_ Queen Bee. 

Sabrina paused. Chloe had started wearing that one silver comb in her hair constantly, and had deflected all questions about it, although it looked very different from her normal accessories… and there had been a definite smell of honey in Chloe’s room last time Sabrina had been over… and Queen Bee did look a lot like Chloe…

Her mind went almost imperceptibly hazy for a moment, and when the fog cleared from her thoughts, the idea was suddenly laughable. “Come on!” Sabrina berated herself out loud. “Chloe could never be a superhero.” She glanced around, as if Chloe might materialise from the shadows in her room, and then put a hand on her hip and affected a mockery of Chloe’s haughty tone. “Ugh! Me, jumping around on rooftops? No way! What if I broke a nail?!”  
She snorted at her joke and turned back towards the window.

A masked face was staring at her, right on the other side of the glass.

Sabrina shrieked and fell off her seat, backing away from the window. Her first thought was _akuma!_ , but as she looked again, she recognised Carapace. He had his elbows resting on the outside windowsill, but as she watched he raised a hand and tapped on the window, looking almost… sheepish, though it was difficult to tell with the shadow his hood cast over his face.

When she didn’t move, he tapped again, more insistently. Suddenly worried- _Dad’s working late tonight, what if there’s been an attack and he’s hurt?_ \- she slowly approached the window, unlocking it and pushing it open without really thinking. Carapace yelped as the window knocked his arms off the windowsill and he fell out of sight.

“Oh no, I’m sorry!” Sabrina stuck her head out of the window. “Are you-” She squeaked in surprise.

She’d expected him to be on the pavement below, but he was hanging by the tips of his fingers from the windowsill, his face peering up at her. His hood had fallen back, revealing short, dark hair. Recovering herself, Sabrina offered her hand and he grasped it, scrambling untidily onto the ledge.

“Thanks, Sa- civilian.” Carapace coughed, settling himself. “I didn’t realise the window opened outwards.”

“Is something wrong?” Sabrina asked urgently. “Is there an akuma? Is my father ok?”

Carapace glanced over her in the dim light. “Oh, yes, you’re Officer Raincomprix’s daughter. I recognise you now. No, there’s no akuma, and as far as I know your dad is fine. This is just a routine patrol.”

Sabrina was momentarily relieved, but then frowned. “So why were you looking in my window?”

She thought his cheeks might have darkened, but she dismissed it as the shadow from his mask. “I- uh- saw you staring out of the window. I was just coming to ask if you were ok.”

“Well, I’m fine, thank you.” There was a long pause.

“Glad to hear it.” Carapace shifted the shield on his back awkwardly, before looking back out of the window. “Hope this fog clears up by tomorrow, it’s super cold.”

 _Great, small talk_. “Yeah,” Sabrina said uncomfortably. “I think it should have lifted by the morning. It’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I heard that too.” Carapace nodded, and they trailed off into uncomfortable silence again.

Sabrina felt like she should be more excited- one of the heroes of Paris, right there in front of her!- but she couldn’t think of anything to say. They had exhausted talking about the weather, what else could she-

“Your room is nice,” Carapace forced out.

“Thanks.” Another silence. “You’re in it.”

“Oh! Sorry, did you want me to go?”

“No, it’s ok.” Sabrina fumbled through her thoughts. “Since you’re here can I, uh, get you a drink or anything?”

“Well, since it’s so nippy out there I wouldn’t mind a hot chocolate?” Carapace ventured, before backtracking. “If you’re cool with that, I mean.”

“I’ll go and see if we have any.” Glad for the chance to escape and recover her thoughts, Sabrina darted out of the door and down the stairs. To her dismay, a quick search of the cupboards revealed no hot chocolate. She made a cup of tea and headed back upstairs. When she opened the door, he was sitting on the window seat, watching the street. He looked up, and his face crinkled with a grin.

“Sorry, it’s tea,” Sabrina said. “We don’t have any hot chocolate.”

“No problem, tea is my third favourite hot drink,” Carapace replied. He stood up and came over to claim the mug, and Sabrina averted her eyes again nervously only to end up staring at his lean torso. Blushing, she looked back at his face.

“Third favourite?” she asked.

“Hot chocolate is second,” Carapace added, sipping the tea. “This is nice, thanks.”

“Well… what’s first?” Sabrina pressed.

Carapace narrowed his eyes. “I _guess_ I can tell you, but if I see this in a magazine I’ll know it was you.”

“I won’t tell,” she insisted, curious now.

“I… love those gingerbread latte things the coffee shops make in autumn,” Carapace shrugged. “I’ve always been super into ginger things.” 

Sabrina said nothing, just blinked at him, and Carapace’s eyes widened. “Like ginger biscuits, ginger cake, ginger… uh… pie?” _Are there ginger pies?_ He coughed. “But your hair is… nice too.”

“Nice save,” Sabrina observed drily. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell the press. Wouldn’t want you pelted with ginger biscuits everywhere you go.”

Carapace laughed uncertainly as he drained the last dregs of tea. “Well, I- I should be getting back to my patrol. Bee will be wondering where I’ve run off to, and she isn’t exactly patient.”

“Oh, ok.” Sabrina watched him climb back out of the window. As he was about to leap from the sill, she called, “Carapace?”

He turned to look at her and she shuffled her feet. “I- I wouldn’t mind if you’d like to stop by every now and then after your patrols. I’ll get some hot chocolate tomorrow.”

Carapace smiled, much more sincerely this time. “I’ll definitely hold you to that, Sabrina. I like marshmallows in mine.” The sill creaked and he was gone, leaping away across the rooftops. Sabrina watched him until the cold fog began to sneak in through the window, and she hurried to close it. As she clicked the handle back into place, something occurred to her.

“Wait… he never asked me my name…”


	2. Chapter 2

Sabrina kept quiet about her encounter with Carapace. In fact, she barely had time to mention it anyway before an akuma hit the Champs-Elysées halfway through first period and the class, as always, descended into chaos.

Alya interrupted Miss Bustier to tell everyone, not that they needed her to; the Ladyblog had been sending alerts to all of their phones for five minutes already. Alya was still rattling off facts about the akuma as she bolted for the door without asking permission. Miss Bustier just let her go, and when Marinette and Adrien’s hands shot up she just waved a hand dismissively and they hurried out of the door too.

“Um, excuse me-” Chloe began tersely, already pulling her phone out of her bag, but Miss Bustier cut her off.

“Yes, Chloe, you may be excused as well,” she sighed. When Alix and Kim eagerly followed Chloe out, she didn’t protest. “Anyone else?”

To Sabrina’s surprise, Nino hopped over his desk and vanished out of the door.

Madame Bustier glanced over her half-empty classroom. Half of her remaining students were already watching livestreams of the attack on their phones. Resigned, she switched the projector to the video and the half-class watched with bated breath.

Rena Rouge was first on the scene, closely followed by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Carapace was next, and the four heroes appeared to be making battle plans when Queen Bee dropped from the sky like a bolt of lightning and kicked the akuma in the face, and the person streaming the video cheered.

After that the battle was just a blur of coloured suits, but Sabrina kept her eyes always on the green shape of Carapace, gasping with the rest of the onlookers as he took a serious blow from the akuma’s foot and slammed into a wall. He quickly recovered, though, and sprang back into the fray.

The akuma was putting up a fight, but she was badly outnumbered. The proportion of akumas who could create their own minions had increased over recent months to combat the larger group of heroes, but this clearly wasn’t one of those. Armed with her voice, she appeared to be able to ‘sing’ destructive sound waves; every shop window was already broken.

“I wonder if Lucky Charm will be earplugs,” an onlooker commented in the background of the video, and Miss Bustier and several of the remaining class members chuckled.

Finally Rena Rouge yanked off the akuma’s choker, and Queen Bee stomped on it. Ladybug snatched the butterfly with her yoyo, and tossed her Lucky Charm into the air, calling for Miraculous Ladybug to do its work. The video cut off as the heroes dispersed among cheering from the crowd.

“Akuma battles are almost unfair nowadays,” Max commented. “5 against 1 are terrible odds, whichever way you look at them.”

“I think I’d rather the odds were against the akuma winning,” Nathanael pointed out.

“That’s enough now,” Miss Bustier said sharply. “While we wait for your classmates to get back from their hero-watching, you can be getting on with your essay plans or reading ahead.”

Grudgingly, eyes turned downwards, but Sabrina could hear the whispering behind her and knew everyone’s minds were still on the attack. She glanced around. She was the only person left on the front row. It was surprisingly common for half of the class to disappear during akuma attacks, including Chloe and Nino.

Kim and Alix were the first to arrive back, clattering down the hallway. Alix threw the door open with a bang and declared, red-faced and out of breath, “I win! Ha!”

“You kept cutting corners! I want a rematch!” Kim demanded.

"Ok, let's go!" Alix challenged, looking as if she was about to run back out of the room again. "Race you back there!"

“Please take your seats,” Miss Bustier interrupted, sounding tired. “Did you see any of the others on your way back?”

Both shook their heads, glaring at each other as they headed for their seats. "This isn't over," Kim hissed at Alix, who stuck out her tongue as she sat back down next to Mylène. Sabrina heard Kim start to whisper excitedly to Max about the battle, with Alix interjecting to dispute his description at regular intervals.  
Nino and Adrien reappeared next, shouldering each other playfully and sniping at each other about something under their breath. As Nino sat down, he glanced over at Sabrina and smiled. She raised an eyebrow questioningly, and he shrugged. Before Sabrina could continue the non-verbal conversation, Chloe stalked in, snapping a compact shut and sliding back into her seat. She didn’t speak to Sabrina, and Sabrina didn’t expect her to. Chloe didn’t have to explain herself to anyone.

Marinette crashed in, full of apologies, and Alya brought up the rear, her eyes bright with excitement and her hair wild. She had stopped livestreaming the attacks a few months ago, complaining about data charges, and instead wrote up detailed accounts of each attack on the Ladyblog, combining them with other onlookers’ video clips.

At lunch, Nino waited for Sabrina at the classroom door, and fell into step beside her as she followed behind Chloe. When Chloe was safely in her limousine back to the Grand Paris, Sabrina finally turned to Nino. “Where did you go?” she asked immediately.

“I went to see the akuma,” Nino responded. “And to keep an eye on Alya. You know how she can be, getting herself into danger.”

Sabrina frowned. “Isn’t that always Marinette’s excuse?”

“It takes two of us to keep Alya out of trouble,” Nino joked, but Sabrina didn’t smile. He coughed. “Um… do you want to get lunch?”

Sabrina turned away. “I have an errand to run first.”

“I’ll come with you,” Nino offered. He laced his fingers with hers as she started walking. “Bri, what’s wrong? I’ve told you, there’s nothing going on with Alya and me. I’m not her type, like, at all.”

Sabrina shook her head. “It’s not that. I just feel like you’re not telling me the full truth.”

Nino was silent for a while. “OK, you got me. I’m actually… Queen Bee. I ran out because I had an overwhelming urge to kick the akuma in the face.”

Sabrina laughed and shoved him playfully with her shoulder. “Be serious!”

“I’m absolutely serious!” Nino pretended to look affronted. “Don’t tell me I don’t look fabulous in black and yellow spandex!” He pulled her into a one-armed side-hug, then his eyes grew serious. “Ok. I actually went to get this.” He pulled a bunch of daffodils from his bag. “Happy monthiversary.”

Sabrina buried her face in his arm. “Ninoooooo! You said you wouldn’t make a fuss about that!”

“Oh well, if you don’t want-” Sabrina snatched the flowers so fast Nino thought they had vanished.

“No, I love them,” she mumbled. “Thanks, Nino.”

“Hey.” Nino looked embarrassed. “No problem.”

“We’d better hurry so I can put these in water.” Sabrina sped up, heading for the little corner shop she often picked up bits and pieces from.

“So what do you need?” Nino asked as she darted into the shop.

“Dad asked me to get some more milk… some potatoes… oh, and hot chocolate powder.” Sabrina spied the canister on the top shelf and stretched up towards it, straining on her tiptoes.

“I got it,” Nino said, but instead of grabbing the canister he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up so she could get it.

Sabrina squeaked, and when he put her down she focused on straightening out her sweater, feeling her cheeks burn. “Show-off.”

Nino chuckled. Sabrina huffed, then remembered something. “Oh! Mini marshmallows!”

“What?”

“He said- I mean, my dad, yes, he likes mini marshmallows in his hot chocolate.” Sabrina corrected herself. She didn’t think Nino would particularly like that another boy had paid a late-night visit to her house. Nino gave her a look, but he picked up the little jar of marshmallows and they headed for the fridge section to pick up some milk.

 

In her room that night, Sabrina adjusted the daffodils in their vase, glancing at the window every minute or so. It was getting very late, but Carapace hadn’t showed. She reasoned that since he had been patrolling the night before, he might not be patrolling tonight.

As she thought it, she heard a tap on her window. Carapace was looking in at her, smiling. Sabrina hurried to let him in. She crossed her arms. “Back so soon?”

“Hey, I told you I love hot chocolate,” Carapace said casually, climbing into the room.

“Well, my dad is home tonight,” Sabrina said. “So you’re out of luck. He’ll get suspicious if I start making hot chocolate.”

Carapace smirked. “You could just make me a cup and pretend it’s for you?”

“Nice try. He knows I don’t like hot chocolate.”

There was a pause for a solid ten seconds. Then Carapace pulled his hood down. “I’m sorry, I think my hood muffled my ears. What did you say?”

“I." Sabrina spelled it out, slowly and clearly. "Don’t like. Hot chocolate.”

Carapace made a strangled noise and collapsed dramatically on the window seat. “Is that even possible?” he asked, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. “How can anyone not like hot chocolate?”

Sabrina shrugged. “I tried it a few times at my best friend’s favourite coffee shop. It’s too sweet. I prefer coffee.”

Carapace gave another despairing wail. “No. As a hero of Paris, I cannot let this injustice against hot drinks go unfixed!” He fixed her with a stern gaze. “Bring me the hot chocolate powder. I will show you the way to the truth.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes, but headed downstairs. She filled a mug with hot water, and carried the hot chocolate and marshmallows upstairs, concealed under her arm. Her father, sitting in front of the TV, greeted her as she passed him, but didn’t look up or question her. Sabrina heard him muttering crossly at the news as she ascended the stairs.

Carapace was waiting eagerly. He spotted the marshmallows and grinned. “Aha. Those will make it even better.”

“Even sweeter, you mean,” Sabrina shook her head. “I’m telling you, this won’t work.”

“Shhhhh. I am here to right a wrong.” Carapace spooned three teaspoons of powder into the water, stirred it and paused. “A bit of milk will make it creamier, but we’ll stay basic for tonight.” He counted out seven marshmallows. “The perfect formula.” He passed her the mug. “Now drink.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes again, but took a sip, the steam clouding her glasses. It was better than she had thought it would be, not as cloyingly sweet as the caramelised concoctions Chloe swore by. It was simple and sweet, but not sugary, in flavour, with the marshmallows adding just the slightest extra touch.

She lowered the mug to see Carapace staring intently at her, waiting for her reaction. “Well?”

“It’s… not bad,” Sabrina ventured.

“That’s a start!” Carapace’s brown eyes brightened. “Now can I have some?”

Sabrina passed the mug over and he took a swig. “We’ll work on it,” he promised. “We’ll mix it differently every time until we find one you like.”

Sabrina let him drink for a little longer before speaking quietly. “I saw the fight today.”

Carapace lowered the mug. “Yeah. Moth Man just doesn’t know when he’s beaten.”

“It looked like you took a nasty hit,” Sabrina commented. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Carapace shrugged. “The suit’s hardier than it looks, and even if I did get hurt, Miraculous Ladybug would fix it up.” He took another drink. “It’s just annoying to have to drop everything and go fight.”

“Surely every akuma doesn’t need all of you?” Sabrina suggested. “After all, Ladybug and Chat Noir were doing ok on their own, even before Rena Rouge joined in.”

“Yeah, but Ladybug always says, the one akuma where somebody doesn’t turn up will be the one where we really need all of us to defeat it,” Carapace shrugged. “We can win over and over, but we can’t ever afford to lose. It’s not worth the risk. Rena tried to suggest Chat should sit out once. You should have seen how fast he shot that down.” He fiddled with his bracelet. “But it’s not easy.”

He glanced at her solemn face. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We’ll keep Paris safe. Sorry for laying it all on you like that, but since I didn’t see my love of gingerbread lattes in all the headlines this morning I figured I could trust you.” He finished the rest of the hot chocolate. “Anyway. I should probably let you get to bed, huh? Sorry for the late flying visit, but I’m pretty beat from that battle.” He yawned. “I’ll be on patrol again on Friday. I’ll look in after that, if you’re around.”

“Uhhh… I’m actually busy that night,” Sabrina said. She glanced at the calendar. She was supposed to be seeing a movie with Nino that evening. “I have a thing. With a friend. A date, actually.”

Carapace froze. “Oh.” He looked confused, and then his eyes widened. “Ohh! Yeah, I almost forgot!”

Sabrina stared at him. Carapace noticed and hastened to explain. “Yeah, I forgot me and Rena swapped patrols this week. I’m actually patrolling on _Saturday_ night.” Carapace nodded to himself. “Will you be here then?”

“I should be.”

“Awesome. Be ready for more hot chocolate.” He winked. “See you around, Sabrina.” Then he was gone again.

Sabrina closed the window, then sighed. “I forgot to ask how he knew my name.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapters are getting longer...
> 
> Also I'm terrible at thinking of ideas for akuma, I'm sorry

The next morning, Nino was waiting outside the school for her, his headphones pulled over his ears. He slid them onto his neck as she approached and smiled. “Hey, Bri. How was your evening? Did he like the hot chocolate? Your dad, I mean.”

“Oh. Yes.” Sabrina avoided his eyes, worried he would see through the lie. She needn’t have worried, as Nino smiled and took her hand.

“Had a nice evening then?” he asked as they started up the steps. “No homework for once, at least.”

“Did you finish the physics paper that was due today?”

Nino slowly turned to look at her, his eyes wide. “Uhhhh… what physics paper?”

“Nino! We had a whole month to work on it, how did you forget? Ms. Mendeleiev’s going to murder you!” Sabrina sighed dramatically. “Oh, what a tragic end to my first romantic relationship.”

She kept her eyes fixed straight ahead as they walked up the steps, struggling to keep the smirk off her face as Nino’s eyes slowly narrowed. “You’re messing with me,” he said eventually.

“Am I?” Sabrina fluttered her eyelashes. “I suppose you’ll find out when we get to physics.”

“C’mon, Bri, don’t do this,” Nino complained. “If I’m really in my final hours, I have so many people to say goodbye to, so many things to do…” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and waved it at her. “I mean, I have to choose the song I want to listen to as I’m slowly dismembered!”

“Will that really take you four hours?”

“Well, that’s one of several things,” Nino responded, tucking the phone away again. He collapsed on a bench in the courtyard. Sabrina remembered Carapace doing the same thing the night before and smiled fondly. _Are all boys so dramatic?_ She settled herself beside him as he stretched his legs out, slumping on the bench with his head hanging over the back.

Sabrina knocked his cap off his head playfully, and Nino made an alarmed sound, lunging after it. He glared at her as he dusted it off and wedged it firmly back onto his head. In response, Sabrina smiled sweetly at him for a few seconds before pulling it down over his face.

“Bri, stop!” Nino protested. Sabrina giggled, watching him carefully resetting his cap and tucking his hair back under it. She thought she saw a flash of green under the cap, but when she blinked it was gone. She leaned on his shoulder, casting a last glance at the cap before turning her face to idly watch other students arriving. When Chloe stepped across the threshold, Sabrina had to be right there to greet her.

For now, though, she rested her head on Nino’s shoulder, rolling her eyes as she felt him stiffen slightly. “There is no physics paper,” she whispered in his ear.

“I knew that,” he replied. “You have the evillest little grin when you’re trying to trick me.”

“You did the maths questions though, right?”

Nino turned sharply and Sabrina was smirking again. “I’m joking.” As he exhaled in relief, she spoke again. “There was only the history test today.”

“Ha ha,” Nino huffed, but Sabrina’s grin was gone. His face fell “Wait, are you serious? That was today?”

“ _Nino!”_

 

Sabrina practically slammed Chloe’s car door, ignoring the blonde’s angry yelp. Chloe had complained about the biology lesson and history test all through lunch at the Grand Paris, and they still had physics and maths to get through in the afternoon. Wednesday was the day the whole class secretly prayed for an akuma attack to hit, so they could escape having to sit through three Mendeleiev lessons in one day.

Nino was waiting at the top of the steps for her. There were still ten minutes until the end of lunch, and Sabrina glanced at Chloe to see her flying over to Adrien and pulling him into a hug, so she went to sit next to her boyfriend. They sat in easy silence for a minute, a welcome rest for Sabrina’s ears.

“Ready for a Mendeleiev double-bill?” Nino asked.

Sabrina threw her arms into the air. “Akuma, take me now,” she said sarcastically.

No butterfly was forthcoming, however, and the class slogged through the lessons. Sabrina kept notes attentively, but her mind constantly strayed to thoughts of Carapace and Nino. With the date on Friday and then Carapace’s visit on Saturday; the weekend was shaping up to be a good one.

 

After seeing Chloe to her car, Sabrina prepared to set off home. “Hey,” Nino called across to her as Adrien’s car pulled away. “I have to go grab some lettuce, so I can walk part of the way with you.”

Sabrina nodded, and Nino walked beside her. “Are you looking forward to Friday?” Nino asked.

“Yes, of course!” Sabrina smiled. “I thought you might have forgotten.”

“Pfffft, me? No way I’d forget a date with my favourite girl!” Nino ruffled her hair playfully, and Sabrina neatened her orange locks crossly.

“Watch it,” she complained.

“Call it revenge for the cap,” Nino smirked.

“I suppose that’s fair,” Sabrina mused, before lunging for the cap again.

“Hey!” Nino dodged. “Come on, Brini, leave my poor cap alone!”

“Brini?” Sabrina looked at him in amusement. “That’s a new one.”

“Do you like it?”

“Hmmm.” Sabrina shrugged. “Maybe. Only if I can call you Nini.”

“I think I’ll stick to Bri.”

“Good choice.” Sabrina smiled mischievously. “Now give me your cap.”

“Brini, no!”

“Nini, yes!” Sabrina swiped at the cap and Nino set off running. Sabrina hared after him; as he ran, Nino yanked his cap off and shoved it into his bag.

“That’s cheating!” Sabrina shrieked, grabbing the strap of his bag; she pulled Nino back to face her, and they stood there, red and breathless from the chase, both gripping the bag, before Nino dropped it and kissed her.

Sabrina ignored her glasses digging into her face, also dropping the bag to gingerly wrap her arms around his neck. Nino broke the kiss and started to say something, his face burning, but Sabrina stopped him, gently pulling on his neck and returning the kiss more firmly. Nino’s arms hovered indecisively before slowly wrapping around her waist. The kiss was not a long one, but instead the pair kept parting their lips to look at each other and giggle sweetly.

Finally, Sabrina drew back, avoiding his gaze as he picked up his bag. “That was nice,” she said quietly, biting her lip.

“Yeah,” Nino agreed, keeping his eyes down as he straightened his glasses.

 

They parted ways after that, too embarrassed and nervous to really exchange proper goodbyes. Sabrina’s head was still in the clouds as she headed down a busy shopping street, making for the little residential area where she lived.

Suddenly, someone started screaming, and a wave of fear swept along the street. Sabrina looked up to see a strange blue figure leaping from wall to wall along the street in her direction. She pressed herself against the wall as a crowd stampeded by, pursued by the figure, which didn’t seem to notice her as it hurled strange blue and pink objects after the crowd.

She darted down a side street and accessed the Ladyblog; a few alerts were already up, most less than a minute old, all in her area. Since Alya had stopped livestreaming the attacks, she’d been working on improving the Ladyblog; Max had helped her set up the tracking map system to let people report akuma and hero sightings, and there were rumours that the heroes themselves now used the Ladyblog to track down akumas.

Sabrina added her own sighting, then cautiously peered back out onto the main street to see if she could work out anything useful about the akuma. Several people were still on the street, but were either contorted in odd positions or seemed to be rooted in place, struggling frantically like flies on flypaper.

Another alert popped up. _It’s a chewing gum akuma._ It was a statement, oozing with exasperation. _I’m stuck to the ground right now._

People began commenting, everything from curses to _Really, Hawk Moth?_ A video popped up of the blue figure leaping around, hurling what Sabrina now recognised as wadded chewing gum at fleeing civilians. A man stepped on the gum and grabbed someone else running by; the other person was unable to pull away from his hand, so both were trapped.

Someone else commented. _The stickiness is contagious. Don’t touch anyone who’s stuck, or you’ll stick to them._

A reply popped up. _Now you tell me._

Sabrina switched back to the akuma tracker. It was now back near the school. She needed to focus on getting home, away from the akuma. She began heading down the side street, changing direction every time the akuma moved too close.

Hero alerts began to appear; Chat Noir had arrived. Then Rena Rouge and Ladybug too, a few streets away from the akuma, which was drawing closer to Sabrina again.

Turning another corner, Sabrina suddenly found herself back on the main street; her evasive weaving had brought her full circle back to the road where she started. She glanced at her phone to check the location of the akuma, and suddenly she was pulled backwards behind a signboard.

“Better pay attention if you don’t want to end up in a sticky situation,” Chat Noir quipped as gum slapped the pavement where she had just been standing. He glanced at the screen on his baton. “Ah. My lady has arrived.” He extended the baton. “Stay here, miss. We’ll soon have this akuma cleaned up.”

Sabrina watched him vault onto the roof across the road; curiosity made her peer over the board to try and catch a glimpse of the heroes. Ladybug and Queen Bee ran to meet Chat on the roof, while Rena was a short distance away, dodging the akuma’s projectiles. The Ladyblog hadn’t yet reported any sightings of Carapace.

The akuma suddenly turned his focus towards Ladybug and Chat, and Sabrina crouched down again. She considered calling her father, but she doubted there was anything he could do to get her out of here. He would be with his colleagues, setting up a roadblock and diverting people away. If he charged in to save her he would just get stuck like everyone else.

For now, she could just sit tight. The akuma was after the heroes, it wouldn’t bother with her-

Queen Bee touched down next to her. “Sorry, I need this,” she called over her shoulder as she snatched up the signboard, leaving Sabrina exposed.

“Bee!” a familiar voice scolded. Carapace skidded to a halt on the other side of the street, scowling up at the bee heroine, who just glared at him and charged back towards the akuma. Carapace cursed and marched over to Sabrina, helping her to her feet. “Sorry about her,” he said tersely. “It’s ok, I’ll get you out of here.”

“Actually, I’d rather you stuck around,” a nasal voice taunted above them.

“That was just lazy!” Chat shouted from the other end of the street. The akuma hurled the gum; Carapace spun around and took the blow with his shielded back, standing in front of Sabrina to keep her out of the akuma’s line of fire. She heard the thud of the impact as it knocked Carapace against her hand that was still clutching her phone; the back of her hand touched his chest and stayed there.

When Carapace tried to turn around to face the akuma, Sabrina’s hand refused to detach from the front of his suit.

“Sorry,” Sabrina said apologetically, and had already braced her other hand against his chest to push it away when she realised her mistake.

The akuma cackled before taking a blow from Ladybug’s yoyo and turning his attention furiously to the spotted heroine.

Sabrina tried to pull her hands away, but they were simply fixed in place as if with cement.

Carapace kept his arms raised out of the way. “Brini, stop,” he said eventually.

Sabrina did stop, narrowing her eyes. “What did you call me?”

“I said Rainie!” Carapace said, a little too loudly. “Because your surname, right, it’s Raincomprix? So… Rainie.” He grinned. “Anyway, I think we’re stuck. We need to just get out of the way now; the others should have everything under control soon.”

There was a crash as Queen Bee smashed the signboard over the akuma’s head. The board stuck to the akuma, and Queen Bee stuck to the signboard, and all three fell out of the sky.

“Under control.” Carapace grinned wider, hoping his expression was convincing.

Sabrina saw a movement across the street. Someone was standing there, filming her and Carapace with great delight on her face. Carapace spotted the woman too, and quickly scooped Sabrina up and jumped onto the roof.

Once there, he tried to put her down again before realising his mistake. “Sorry, Rainie, I guess we’re stuck like this until the akuma’s gone.”

Sabrina had to fight the urge to hide her face in his chest, in case that got stuck as well. Luckily, it looked as if the battle was wrapping up.

“Sorry, pal, but you were playing a losing _gum!_ ” Chat quipped as he pulled the akuma’s shoe off and shredded the sole with his claws. The akuma butterfly fluttered free for a few seconds before Ladybug’s yoyo flew up to catch it. It appeared that Rena Rouge was stuck to Ladybug’s leg by her tail, and Queen Bee was still stuck to the signboard; as Ladybug tossed the yoyo up and Miraculous Ladybug swept over the city, they drew away in relief.

Carapace set Sabrina down gently, and she yanked her hands back from his chest. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“Hey, no harm done,” Carapace said, looking equally embarrassed. He extended an arm. “Come on, I don’t really want to deal with Rena and Chat right now, and I’ve got time. I’ll take you home.”

 

Carapace set Sabrina down at the end of her street. “Are you sure you don’t want hot chocolate?” Sabrina asked for the fifth time.

Carapace rolled his eyes. “If you really insist.”

“I do,” Sabrina crossed her arms, staring him down.

“OK, OK, don’t hurt me!” Carapace backed up. “I’ll be back in fifteen, though, ok? I’ve got a little something to take care of first.”

“If you don’t come back, I’m throwing out the marshmallows.”

“Rad. Which bin is yours again? I might have to get Chat to knock it over.”

“Eww!” Sabrina gave him a shove. “Just come back, you stupid turtle.”

Carapace put a hand on her shoulder. “I will, Rainie.” He grinned. “I can’t turn down free hot chocolate! Oh, and you’re ok too I guess.”

Sabrina raised an eyebrow. “Dad bought ginger biscuits.”

“I’ll be back in ten,” Carapace said instantly. “Be ready.”

When he had gone, Sabrina headed home. Her father was waiting for her. “Sabrina!” He rushed forward to hug her. “I was worried, you didn’t answer my messages. Did you get caught in the attack?”

Sabrina glanced at her phone. _4 messages from Dad_. She hadn’t seen them because she’d been so distracted by Carapace and the akuma.

“No,” she lied. “I saw the alerts and took a different way home. That’s why I’m late, I got a little bit lost.”

Roger hugged her again. “Well, next time make sure you call me, ok? I was about to head out to look for you.”

“Sorry, Dad.” Sabrina hugged him back. “I’m going to go and get started on my homework now.” She headed into the kitchen. “Do you want some hot chocolate?”

Roger followed her into the kitchen. “I thought you didn’t like hot chocolate.”

Sabrina shrugged, taking the jar out of the cupboard. “It’s growing on me. Marshmallows?”

“Please.” Roger watched her make the drinks. “So, how was school?”

“The history test was fine,” Sabrina mused, stirring the hot chocolate before passing one of the mugs to her father. “Nino forgot about it, but I helped him study in the ten minutes before class started.”

“Nino, as in, your boyfriend?” Roger looked slightly uncomfortable, his grip tightening on the mug of hot chocolate. It was his favourite mug, the one Sabrina had given him for Father’s Day when she was seven; it was police-blue, with the words _The Only Superhero I Know Is My Dad!_ written on it.

“Yes, Dad, that Nino.” Sabrina rolled her eyes, and her father mimicked the action back sarcastically.

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, missy,” Roger chided, but he was smiling. “I need to know these things.”

“If you say so, Dad.” Sabrina headed past him towards the stairs. “Call me when dinner’s ready.”

“What did your last slave die of?” Roger called after her, but he was smiling as he headed back into the living room and switched on the TV.  


Sabrina put the hot chocolate down on the window seat and sneaked back down the stairs to kidnap the ginger biscuits and the marshmallows from the cupboard. When she got back upstairs, Carapace’s face was pressed against the window, his eyes fixed on the hot chocolate and his breath steaming up the glass.

Sabrina laughed and went to open the window; Carapace climbed in and claimed the mug. “This wasn’t supposed to be every night, you know,” he complained. “My family will be wondering where I am. You’re enticing me away with hot chocolate and ginger biscuits.”

“Your family don’t know you’re Carapace?” Sabrina asked.

“No!” Carapace looked shocked. “If you were a superhero, sneaking out to fight dangerous villains and monsters every day, would you have told your dad?”

“Well…” Sabrina had a mental image of her father fitting bars on her window. “No, probably not. He’d go crazy.”

“Exactly.” Carapace nodded. “Nobody knows that I’m a superhero. Not my family, my friends or my girlfriend. They’d be in danger if they knew.”

“You have a girlfriend?” Sabrina ignored the weird pang she felt on hearing that.

“Yeah.” Carapace stretched his legs out and smiled, settling in the window seat. “She’s pretty amazing.”

“And does she know you’ve been visiting me every night?” Sabrina said, crossing her arms.

“Uhhhhh…” Carapace looked deep in thought. Sabrina frowned at him.

“I don’t think she’d like it much,” she said crossly. “Maybe you shouldn’t visit me like this any more.”

“No, come on.” Carapace stood up. “I like talking to you. Chat visits a girl all the time as well, and they’re not into each other at all. Well… he says, anyway.” He drained his hot chocolate.

Sabrina was about to reply when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. “Sabrina?” Roger called. “Who are you talking to?”

“Go!” Sabrina hissed. “Go go go go go!” She shoved Carapace towards the window.

Carapace looked at the packet of biscuits in his hand. “Take them with you!” Sabrina snapped impatiently, snatching the empty mug from his hand. “Now go, before he sees you!”

Carapace scrambled out of the window and Sabrina slammed the window shut, hearing the hero yelp as he only just yanked his fingers clear. She had no time to check on him as her bedroom door opened and her father poked his head around it. He looked around her room suspiciously. “Were you talking to someone? I thought I heard a boy talking.”

“I was on speakerphone with Nino,” Sabrina said instantly, crossing to the bed to pick up her phone, while also pushing the jar of marshmallows out of sight under her bed with her foot. Roger frowned and stepped properly into the room, still holding his mug of hot chocolate. He sat down on the window seat, cupping the mug in his hands, and met her gaze sternly. “I just saw you on the news. In the footage of the akuma attack. Why did you lie to me?”

Sabrina sighed. “Dad-”

“Sabrina,” Roger countered. “I’ve told you before, if you ever get caught up in an attack I want you to call me immediately and _I_ will come and get you out of there.”

“But Dad-”

“I know today that turtle hero protected you, but next time he might not be there,” Roger blazed on, ignoring her attempts to interrupt. “I have every faith in Ladybug and the other heroes, but they can’t be everywhere at once and I don’t want you to get hurt. You’ve been affected by too many akumas as it is with all those attacks at the school.”

“Akuma effects don’t last,” Sabrina reminded him. “Miraculous Ladybug fixes everything.”

“Not everything,” Roger said quietly, and Sabrina knew he was thinking about the dreams that still plagued both of them from time to time. How many Parisians now had flashes of someone else’s thoughts in their sleep, memories of a manipulative voice whispering in their ear and their bodies and minds twisting into a harsh parody of their true selves?

Roger looked down into his hot chocolate. “If you had called me then... I’d have been there for you, and there wouldn’t have been anything to fix.”

“Dad, no.” Sabrina stood up, crossing the room to squeeze onto the seat next to him. “You know there’s nothing you could have done about that. You didn’t even know I had argued with Chloe.”

“I should have realised sooner,” Roger muttered. “Not just assumed you had stayed over at the hotel.”

“ _Dad.”_ Sabrina hugged his arm. “You did so much for me afterwards. I wouldn’t have gone back to school the day after if you hadn’t encouraged me to.”

Roger sighed. “I know, sweetie. I just wish I could have been there to keep you safe, to stop that villain getting to you.”

“But you probably have,” Sabrina reminded him. “I’ve come home upset before and you’ve cheered me up. Moth Man just took advantage of the one time you weren’t and you can’t blame yourself for that.”

Roger raised an eyebrow. “Moth Man?”

“That’s- uh- what Nino calls him,” Sabrina said quickly. “He thinks Hawk Moth might actually be part moth with how many akuma attacks have been happening at night recently. They keep happening near his house and waking him up.”

Roger laughed, seeming reassured, and stood up. “Well, dinner will be ready soon,” he said, patting her on the back. “Come on, we’ll eat in front of the TV tonight.”

Sabrina followed him down the stairs, her argument with Carapace far from her mind.


	4. Chapter 4

Thursday at the college passed uneventfully, as the day’s akuma struck late at night, and Friday also went uninterrupted aside from a torrential April shower, much to Chloe’s apparent dismay.

“I wanted to not be here for this,” the blonde complained as Ms Mendeleiev handed out a complex maths worksheet for completion over the weekend.

“Adrien said he’d help you with it,” Sabrina reminded her friend, who perked up remarkably quickly. When they were finally released for the weekend, Adrien shot Sabrina a pained look as Chloe marched him out of the classroom; Sabrina just shrugged apologetically. Chuckling at Adrien’s betrayed look, Nino joined Sabrina as she packed up her bag.

“Let’s hope the akuma doesn’t hit while we’re at the cinema,” Nino joked.

Sabrina sighed. “That would be typical, wouldn’t it?” It was something of a joke between them that Hawk Moth was out to sabotage their dates. Any time they scheduled something- lunch at a café, a walk in the park- an akuma would invariably strike nearby halfway through it and Sabrina would have to call her dad to come and get her, while Nino sprinted off to watch the heroes in action. He’d become quite the avid hero watcher, almost as bad as Alya sometimes.

“I’ve got a good feeling about this one,” Nino said, holding out his hand as she unfolded her umbrella. “Shall we?”

“Let’s go,” Sabrina agreed, taking his hand. “The film starts in half an hour, and we have to get there and get our popcorn first.”

“Sweet popcorn?” Nino said guardedly.

Sabrina raised her eyebrow. “Is there any other kind?”

“Good answer.”

“Now if only you would accept pineapple on pizza.”

Nino shook his head. “Fruit on pizza is morally wrong.”

“You’ve never even tried it!”

“I don’t need to. It’s just wrong.”

“You have no basis for your argument.” Sabrina crossed her arms. “You can’t make an unbiased decision without trying it first.”

“Never.”

“One day I’ll trick you into trying it.”

“Remind me never to eat pizza with you ever again.”

“No.”

“Aaaaaaaaagh, you have foiled my only defense!” Nino wailed. “How can I ever remember anything without my girlfriend to remind me?”

“You remember your cap all the time. I think you’re ok.” Sabrina snatched the cap and pulled it onto her own head. Nino stared at her.

“OK… that’s cute. Really cute. But please can I have it back?”

“No, I think I’ll keep it for a bit,” Sabrina teased.

“C’mon, Brini! My head’s cold!”

“You can have it back when you admit that your opinion on pineapple on pizza is bad.”

Nino looked seriously conflicted. “Well?” Sabrina taunted.

Nino’s gaze fixed on something behind her. “Hey, look, it’s Carapace!”

“What?” Sabrina spun around with a sinking feeling- _did this mean there was an akuma?_ , only to feel the cap whisked from her head. Nino smugly set it back over his hair.

“You need to stop stealing my cap,” he complained.

“And you need to stop calling me Brini, Nini.”

“Only if you stop calling me that.”

“That’s not fair, you get two things for the price of one!”

“Life’s not fair. I’ll buy you some popcorn to make up for it.”

“You’ll have to give me time to calculate how much popcorn is equivalent to my enjoyment of stealing your cap.”

“Fine.” Nino rolled his eyes. “Let’s start with the name thing. I won’t call you Brini if you don’t call me… that, and I’ll buy you popcorn in exchange for you not stealing my cap for a week.”

“Make it five days and you have a deal.”

“You’d make a good politician. You thought about running for mayor?”

“No thanks, my hour as the mayor’s daughter was enough.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” Nino paused. “How’s your dad holding up?”

“Like everyone else, I suppose,” Sabrina sighed. “We don’t talk about it much.”

They trailed off into a sombre silence for a few minutes, until Sabrina thought of a new conversation topic as they turned onto the main street.  
“So what are we going to watch?” she asked.

“I… didn’t actually think about that,” Nino admitted. “I’m not really into horror, and superhero movies are kinda boring, but I’m up for anything else. Except chick flicks.” He paused. “Or really gushy romances.

“How about that police comedy movie Kim was talking about?” Sabrina asked.

“Sounds good,” Nino smiled.

“OK.” They had arrived at the cinema. “I’ll get the tickets, you get popcorn and we settle up later?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“See you in ten minutes, Ni…” Sabrina smiled at his slow glare. “…no.”

Nino gave her an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture as they split to join the queues. A few minutes later they had reunited outside the theatre doors, Nino now carrying a jumbo box of sweet popcorn.

“Poor guy,” Nino commented, looking over at a commotion near the refreshment counter. “That lady’s been laying into him for five minutes now.”

A helpless-looking cinema employee was trying and failing to interrupt a red-faced older woman, who was demanding something loudly while two small children at her feet picked up popcorn from a scattered pile on the ground. Other people were looking on, but the woman’s tirade seemed far from over.

“There’s a manager coming now,” Sabrina pointed out, as another woman in a cinema uniform came striding across the lobby. “Come on, she’ll sort it out. Let’s go and find our seats.”

“I guess.” Nino trailed after her into the dark theatre. People continued to trickle in for ten minutes or so, before the room darkened and the screen lit up with adverts.

“How much was the popcorn?” Sabrina half-yelled over the sound of an advert for the new Nissan hybrid.

“Uhhhh… like 15 euros for both.”

“So 7.50 each,” Sabrina replied, taking out her purse.

““I said I was paying!” Nino protested. “For the cap, remember?"

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Now shush, I’m trying to watch the adverts!”

Sabrina rolled her eyes, but put her purse away. After ten minutes of adverts, the trailers came on. “Did you turn your phone off?” she asked him.

“I wasn’t going to, but I guess I should,” he responded. He took his phone out and looked at it. “No akuma yet.”

“Shut up, I don’t want to know!” Sabrina chided him, snatching the popcorn. “Please, Moth Man, let us have this one.”

 

Unfortunately, it was not to be. They were about an hour into the movie when the doors crashed open and somebody yelled, “I AM POPCORN COLONEL!”

A few people laughed before hard oversized popcorn kernels began shooting across the rows of seats, and a few punched through the screen. Then people started screaming and running for the exit.

The projector was knocked askew and the screen went dark, and there was even more panic as what little light there was flickered out. There were loud ‘pops’ coming from all around as the kernels exploded, some scattering stinging salt and others spewing sticky toffee or slippery butter across the floor.

“Nino?” Sabrina called, but he was no longer beside her, and their popcorn was scattered across the floor. “Nino?” She stumbled towards the exit, but slipped on some butter and fell across the seats, her glasses clattering onto the ground somewhere.

Now even more blind, she fumbled across the ground, looking for them, recoiling wherever she touched a sticky spot. Then the doors rattled, and she heard a welcome voice.

“Sorry to pop in unannounced!” Chat Noir declared from somewhere nearby.

“Pretty rude of you to interrupt a movie,” Rena’s voice chided. “Cinema tickets cost enough as it is.”

“Less of the social commentary, foxy!” Carapace’s voice was even more welcome. “Let’s get this cleaned up quick, I’m supposed to be on a date right now.”

“Ugh, same,” Queen Bee interjected. “I am so not in the mood for this right now.”

Sabrina suddenly found herself in the aisle between the columns of seats. “Bee! We’ve got a civilian!” Rena shouted.

“I got it, I got it,” Queen Bee said grumpily. Sabrina heard the buzz of the heroine’s wings as she alighted beside her. “Ew. What are you doing on the floor, Sa- person I have never met?”

“I lost my glasses,” Sabrina explained, her face heating up with embarrassment.

“I found them,” the heroine said a second later. “Now you should probably get out of the way.”

Sabrina felt the lenses being pushed into her hands, and she gratefully put them on, blinking as her eyes readjusted. Then suddenly she was being dragged sideways, and she felt her sweater rip at the hem as kernels rattled off the ground where she had just been. “Watch out!” Queen Bee said crossly.

Sabrina huddled down beside Queen Bee to avoid the onslaught, taking out her phone, switching it on and calling Nino. His phone rang several times, before the automated voicemail played. Worried, Sabrina tried again, with the same result.

“I’m here!” The doors burst open and Ladybug finally arrived. “What’s going on?”

“Popcorn akuma, shoots exploding salt, butter and toffee kernels. No mark on the item just yet, but we have a civilian on the field,” Rena Rouge recited, over the shouts of Chat, Carapace and the akuma and the sound of popping kernels.

“Here, turtle, make yourself useful and get her out of here,” Queen Bee called, grabbing Sabrina’s hand and lifting her off the ground. Carapace looked up and made a noise of alarm as Queen Bee tossed Sabrina his way.

“Rainie-fall incoming!” Chat yelled as Sabrina fell into Carapace’s outstretched arms. Sabrina glared at Chat, who gave her a toothy grin as Carapace gently set her down.

“Sorry about Bee,” Carapace shrugged. “I think all the rain’s made her even crankier than usual.”

“I heard that, Carrot-face!” Queen Bee yelled.

“I think you need your ears checked!” Carapace retorted. “That was NOT what I introduced myself as!”

“Shut up, shell-face!”

“That insult doesn’t even make sense!” Rena yelled at Queen Bee as she swung her flute to bat away errant kernels.

“Who asked you, fox-face?”

“Do all your insults involve the word ‘face’?”

“Of course not!” Queen Bee paused to think of a retort, and was immediately struck by a barrage of popcorn kernels. “Ow!” The kernels exploded, and she stumbled backwards, spitting out salt.

“What a cruel as-salt!” Chat quipped, dodging a cluster of toffee kernels.

“Ugh, whiskers! That was way too…” Carapace paused, and Sabrina saw what was coming before he said it. “ _...corny_.”

“Guys, _focus!_ ” Ladybug’s yoyo wrapped around the akuma’s leg. “Carapace, get Sabrina out of here and then come and help us with this guy!”

“Sure thing, LB!” Carapace grabbed Sabrina’s hand. “Come on, I’ll get you to the lobby and you can call your dad.”

“But I can’t find Nino!” Sabrina protested. “He won’t answer his phone, what if he’s hurt?”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Carapace said, pushing the doors open. “He’s probably out there looking for you.” The crowd peering through the gap in the door recoiled, then quickly started snapping photos. Nino was not among them, and even in the lobby Sabrina couldn’t see him, though she scanned frantically for his red cap among the crowds.

“I can’t see him,” she insisted.

“Well, he’s not in the theatre, he must be out there somewhere,” Carapace told her. “Just call your dad, I’m sure Nino will catch up with you later.”

“Are you sure?” Sabrina peered past him, scanning the rows of seats.

“I’m sure. Now I have to get back to the battle,” Carapace said. “Call your dad and get out of here. If I have time I’ll check on you afterwards, ok?” Without another word he turned and charged back into the cinema, the crowd cheering and chanting his name.

“Nino?” Sabrina called tentatively into the mass of onlookers, then louder. “NINO!”

A few people glanced her way, but he didn’t appear. Frustrated, Sabrina tried his phone again, listening to it ring out before grudgingly calling her dad.

He picked up on the first ring. “I know, Sabrina. I’m on my way there. Wait outside for me. I’ll take Nino home as well if he wants.”

“Actually, we got separated in the rush,” Sabrina said, still frantically scanning the crowds as muted pops sounded from the cinema. “I can’t find him and he won’t answer his phone.”

“It’s ok.” Her father sounded slightly on edge. “Keep trying his phone, but if you still haven’t found him by the time I get there you can wait in the car while I go and look for him. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

“OK. See you soon.” Sabrina hung up, and went hunting through the crowd and along the street, but there was no sign of Nino, even though his phone continued to ring. Eventually, she returned to the cinema, her heart thundering uncomfortably. _Where is he?_ She rang her father’s number again, still keeping an eye out for the flash of that red cap.

Just then a ripple of cheering spread from the onlookers by the theatre door, and a few seconds later swirling, sparkling ladybugs flooded down the corridors. Sabrina watched the torn fibres of her sweater knit back together as they passed her. “It’s ok, Dad,” she said into the phone. “Miraculous Ladybug was just set off. The battle’s over.”

“I know.” His voice echoed strangely in her hearing, and he sounded amused. Sabrina looked around, and he was standing in the doorway of the cinema with his phone to his ear, smiling at her. Sabrina rolled her eyes and hung up as he walked towards her.

“OK, show’s over!” he boomed, making her jump a little. “Come on, break it up.” He waved his arms authoritatively, and the grumbling onlookers began to disperse before turning back towards the doors as they opened.

Clapping and cheering filled the lobby as the heroes emerged from the theatre, Rena Rouge escorting a dazed-looking cinema employee, who Sabrina recognised as the one who had been the subject of the irate woman’s ranting earlier. “You should go home and relax,” the fox hero said gently. “Don’t dwell on it too much. It happens to the best of us.”

Sabrina frowned. Rena spoke almost as if she knew the feeling of being akumatised. She had little time to consider the implications before Carapace appeared, shooting her a small grin. A faint beeping sound could be heard from the little group of heroes.

“We have to go,” Ladybug said. “Rena, are you okay to escort him home?”

“Sure.” Rena smiled. “It’ll be your turn with the next one, stripes.”

“I know.” Queen Bee jutted her chin forwards, but her voice trembled just a little. “I wouldn’t forget that.”

“Good job today, guys,” Chat grinned. “Pretty a- _maize_ -ing, in fact.”

Ladybug cuffed his pointed ear playfully. “No more, kitty, please.”

“Sorry. I guess my puns are just _butter_ left unsaid.”

“That’s it, I’m leaving.” Ladybug reached the door and slung her yoyo towards a streetlamp. “See you later for patrol, Bee.” And then she was gone in a whistle of the string. Chat and Queen Bee disappeared quite quickly after that, and Rena led the akuma victim out of the doors. Carapace approached Sabrina and Roger.

“Thanks for getting me out of there, Carapace.” Sabrina smiled at him, and saw her father’s eyebrows knit together. She hastened to explain. “Carapace helped me get out of the theatre. I got stuck in there looking for Nino.”

“Oh.” Roger surveyed the turtle hero curiously, with just a hint of suspicion. Then he held out his hand. “Then I suppose I owe you my thanks for getting my daughter out of trouble.”

“My pleasure, Lieutenant. She’s quite a girl.” Carapace awkwardly accepted the handshake.

Roger frowned. “Yes, she is.”

“Anyway,” Carapace said quickly. “I should be going. See you around, Rainie.”

When Carapace had disappeared into the city, Roger turned to Sabrina. “‘Rainie’?”

“Yes,” Sabrina said quickly. “It’s a nickname.”

Her father’s eyes narrowed even further, and he began to say something, but they were interrupted by a familiar voice. Sabrina felt a rush of relief as she finally spotted that damned red cap.

“Bri! Bri, are you ok?” Nino was pushing his way through the departing crowd, his warm brown eyes bright with concern.

“Dad, this is Nino,” Sabrina said as Nino reached them.

“Hey, Mr R! - I mean, Lieutenant.” Nino held out his hand with a grin.

“Hello,” Roger said slowly, grasping Nino’s hand in a firm handshake.

“Where’ve you been?” Sabrina asked as Nino slung an arm around her shoulder.

“Sorry, I got caught up in the rush,” Nino said. “I was going to come back for you, but some little kid got separated from his mum, so I helped him find her.”

“Then why didn’t you answer my calls?” Sabrina asked.

“Cinema. My phone was off,” Nino said. “That reminds me, I should turn it back on.”

As he did, Sabrina frowned. His phone had definitely been ringing when she’d called. But why would he lie?

“Anyway,” Roger said. “Do you want a ride home, Nino?”

“No thanks, Mr- Lieutenant,” Nino corrected himself. “I think we’re gonna finish the movie if we can.”

“Are they carrying on with the showings?” Roger asked, just as the same female manager they had seen before called out to the milling crowd.

“Sorry for the interruption, folks! If you head back to your seats, we’ll be resuming all of the showings in five minutes’ time! Plenty of time to grab some fresh refreshments!”

“Think I’ll skip the popcorn this time,” Nino snorted. Sabrina laughed.

“Sabrina?” Her father looked at her. “Do you want to stay?”

“Well… I paid for my ticket…” Sabrina said tentatively.

“Don’t worry, sir,” Nino said. “I’ll make sure she gets home ok after.”

“Well… all right,” Roger said after a pause. “I’ll see you at home, Sabrina.”

“Bye, Dad!” Sabrina waved him off, then turned to Nino. “So you missed the battle, then?”

“Yeah.” Nino shrugged. “Sorry I kinda left you. Did you get out ok?”

“Well, Carapace helped me, but yes I did.”

“Oh, Carapace, huh?” Nino’s eyes glowed mischievously. “What do you think of him?” Something in his gaze was knowing, and Sabrina was suddenly concerned.  
_Wait- Does he know? Did he see the video? OH MY GOD, HAS HE SEEN CARAPACE SNEAKING INTO MY ROOM?_ Sabrina stared wide-eyed at Nino, but he just frowned. “Bri, you ok?”

“Oh- yes.” Sabrina took a deep breath. “He’s cool, I think? I mean, I don’t really know him that well, but he seems nice- he’s pretty, uh, pretty- no, that’s not what I- I mean he’s pretty brave! He saved me from that gum akuma on Wednesday, and from this one, but Chloe seems to think he doesn’t do much, although it seems like he’s always saving people, including me! Not that he only saves me, obviously, that would be weird-”

“Bri, chill!” Nino laughed. “Yeah, Carapace is pretty cool. Don’t know much about the guy myself.”

Sabrina thought Nino’s cap wiggled a bit, but decided her eyes were just playing tricks on her. “Come on,” she said, changing the subject. “Let’s get some ice cream and find out what happens to Officer Martinez.”

 

 Standing outside her front door an hour and a half later, Sabrina shivered in the cooling evening, but found herself in no hurry to go inside just yet. Fog had begun to roll in with the sunset, and she smiled. Another foggy night to sit in her window seat and think.

“What are you smiling at?” Nino asked quietly. They kept their voices down, snatching a few more moments before her father realised they were there.

“The fog.” Sabrina turned to him, twining her fingers around his idly as she watched the wisps creep along the street. “It makes everything seem so dreamlike.”

“Huh, I guess it does.” Nino gazed along the street. “I can’t even see the Tower any more. Weird, I’m so used to it being there.”

“You won’t get lost on your way home without the Tower to follow, will you?” Sabrina teased.

“No, I’ve got a much better sat nav now.” Nino tapped a finger against his cap. “Never steers me wrong.”

“If you say so.” Sabrina sighed. “Well, I guess Dad will be wondering where I am by now. I should go inside.”

“Guess I’ll see you soon then, Rrrrini,” Nino dragged out the last word, almost as if he’d been about to call her something else. He paused. “Yeah. See you on Monday, probably. Rini.”

“See you on Monday then. Nini.”

“ _Whyyyyyy_ ,” Nino complained. “I stopped calling you Brini, didn’t I?”

“You’ve replaced it with Rini now, which is almost as bad. And your name doesn’t break down into anything cute! Unless you can think of something better than Ni or No, you’re stuck with Nini.”

“ _Fiiiine_.” Nino groaned. “Just don’t call me that in front of Adrien. He’d never let me forget it.”

“Only if we can go to the cinema again soon. Moth Man has to let us have an uninterrupted date at some point.”

“We could try the weekend after next?” Nino asked.

“I suppose we could,” Sabrina answered. She leaned up to kiss his cheek. “See you, Nino.”

“See you tomorrow,” Nino responded.

“You mean on Monday.”

“That’s what I said!”

“No, it really isn’t.” Sabrina raised her eyebrow at him. “Whatever. See you when I see you. There’s a science test on Monday, do your revision this time.”

Nino smirked. “I can’t promise that, sorry. There’s a certain girl I like, and she can’t help me with my revision if I’ve done it myself.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes, but smiled at him as she closed the door, listening to his steps fade down the path. “Sabrina, is that you?” her father called from the living room. “Come here, I want to talk to you.”

“What will you do if one day it isn’t me?” Sabrina asked teasingly as she headed into the room. “What do you want to talk about?”

She sobered up as she saw him, sitting on the armchair in what she knew as his ‘serious’ position, with a hot drink (in his favourite mug again, sometimes she wondered why they even had any others) clasped in both hands which were resting on his lap. She sat down nervously on the sofa, flashing back to the five times they’d done this before.  
The last two had been after each of their akumatisations, and had ended with a lot of hugging and crying, the one before that had been for The Talk, and had ended in her father almost throwing an extremely embarrassing pink book at her and both of them running to opposite ends of the house. Neither of those scenarios seemed likely now… unless…

“This isn’t a reprise of the Talk because of Nino, is it?” Sabrina asked cautiously.

Roger’s serious expression cracked into a smile for a moment. “No, no. Speaking of Nino, he seems to be a decent boy. I’d like to have a chat with him at some point. No, this is about Carapace.”

“Carapace?” Sabrina frowned. “Why?”

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice that you seem to know him quite well,” Roger said seriously. “He’s given you a nickname.”

“He gave me that on Wednesday.”

“Did you know him before then?”

“No.” Roger’s eyebrows lifted, and he stared at her. Sabrina cracked. “Okay, yes. I met him on Monday night. He saw me looking out of my window and came to chat to me for a few minutes to make sure I was okay. Then he recognised me on Wednesday, and gave me that nickname.”

“And that’s the only times you’ve spoken to him?” Roger pressed. “Monday, Wednesday, and today?”

“Yes,” Sabrina said firmly. He didn’t need to know about the evening visits.

Roger relaxed a bit. “OK. I believe you.” Sabrina felt a little bit guilty then, but her father wasn’t finished. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get too familiar with him. People might think you’re connected somehow, and then Hawk Moth might send akumas after you to get to him.”

“Hawk Moth isn’t even after Carapace,” Sabrina protested, but Roger shook his head.

“If you’re talking to one of them, it’s not too far for Hawk Moth to think you know the others and I just don’t want you putting yourself in danger.”

“Queen Bee helped me today as well,” Sabrina muttered. “It’s not like it’s only Carapace.”

“That only proves my point,” her father said gently. “I’m not telling you to ask him to stop saving you, just that you should be careful about being seen with him too much.”

“OK.” Sabrina glanced at the stairs. “Can I go now?”

Her father nodded. “I’m only looking out for you, sweetie.”

“I know, Dad.” Sabrina kissed his forehead as she passed him, and heard the TV come on as she headed up the stairs towards the beckoning window seat and the foggy night outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this took a while.
> 
> Another stupid akuma, I know. I have a bit of a sweet tooth.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

“What do you think, Bri? Can we get three in a row?” Nino asked jauntily as they stepped into the Boulangerie Patisserie. Sabrina smiled. Their follow-up cinema date, and subsequent date in the park had both been blissfully uninterrupted, by akuma or superheroes. Without akumas or Carapace to distract her, she could easily remember why she loved spending time with Nino. Funny, smart, sometimes adorably shy Nino.

“Oh, hi Nino!” a familiar voice chimed from behind the counter. Marinette beamed at them. “And Sabrina. Here on a date?”

Nino nodded. “Hey! And yeah, you guessed it, Mari.”

“Hopefully, our third one in a row without an akuma interruption,” Sabrina added.

“Well, you know what they say,” Marinette smiled. “Third time lucky.” She adjusted her apron. “Anyway, what can I get you?” She grinned mischievously at Nino. “By the way, I may have pulled a few strings with Papa, and now we’re trying out a new hot chocolate with gingerbread syrup.”

Nino stared at her. “I love you, Mari.”

“Hey, I’m right here.” Sabrina shoved him playfully.

“Sorry, Bri, but ginger is my one weakness. And hot chocolate is a classic. Not that you’d know that.” He gave her a glare. “Can you believe this girl, Mari? She doesn’t like hot chocolate.”

Marinette gave a theatrical gasp, but Sabrina’s brain was whirring. “Who told you that?” she said slowly.

“Uhhhh… rumour mill,” Nino said. “Adrien said Chloe mentioned it?”

“Huh.” Sabrina shrugged. That seemed reasonable. More reasonable than the possibility that Nino had been talking to Carapace or her father enough to gain that particular snippet of information. “Anyway, you’re wrong. Somebody’s been teaching me that hot chocolate isn’t all bad.”

“So… two gingerbread hot chocolates?” Marinette ventured.

“Sure. Bri, you want anything?” As both girls flashed unamused looks at him, Nino chuckled. “I’ll take one. You up for trying it, Bri?”

“Why not?” Sabrina agreed.

“Whipped cream and marshmallows?” Marinette asked as she took out a bottle of gingerbread syrup from behind the counter.

“Yes, and exactly seven marshmallows,” Nino called as they headed for a booth near the window.

“Whatever Monsieur wishes,” Marinette retorted sarcastically.

Once they were comfortably seated in the booth, Nino raised an eyebrow at Sabrina. “So who’s this person who’s shown you the way to the hot chocolate light?”

“A friend,” Sabrina said evasively. “Turns out it can be a lot more simple than all the crazy syrups and glazes and counter-clockwise stirring that Chloe’s favourite coffee shops swear by.”

“Two gingerbread hot chocolates!” Marinette chirped, setting a tray down on the table. She placed a vase with a rose in it in the centre of the table, then carefully set out the mugs and saucers, topped prettily with a spiral of cream, seven little marshmallows and a dusting of cocoa powder. A little gingerbread man leaned against the mug. “Enjoy, guys. If you need anything else, just give me a call.” She smiled at Sabrina, then glanced at Nino. “Let me know if you enjoy it. Enough good feedback and Papa might make it permanent.”

“Thanks, Mari,” Nino called after her, before picking up the mug and letting the gingerbread man clatter onto the saucer. He glanced at it. “I’ll be back for you, little dude, don’t worry.”

“How do I even drink this?” Sabrina asked, poking the cream with a fingertip.

“Uh, like this?” Nino took a long sip, emerging with cream on his nose and upper lip.

Sabrina giggled. Nino frowned seriously at her. “Are you mocking me, Sabrina Raincomprix? For shame. I am a grown man with a moustache, and I demand your respect.”

She snorted with laughter, and then sipped at her own drink, the gingerbread syrup adding a pleasant spicy warmth. She surfaced with whipped cream patterned across her cheeks, a longer stripe than Nino’s. “Ah, I see that, monsieur Lahiffe, but I am a teenage girl with a far more impressive moustache. You cannot hope to earn my respect with such a measly facial display.”

Nino scooped up more cream with his gingerbread man and dabbed it onto his chin. “I see your superior moustache, and raise you a moustache _and_ a beard.”

“Weak,” Sabrina jabbed. She smudged the cream on her cheeks down to her chin. “I raise you an even more superior moustache merging into a beard.”

“I raise you a moustache, beard, and extremely thick eyebrows.”

“ _Nino! Ewww!”_ Sabrina broke the rapport to cringe as he moved a cream-covered finger towards his eyebrows. “That’s disgusting!”

“Do you concede defeat?”

“Yes, yes, just don’t do that.” Sabrina wiped her face off with a napkin as he took a bite out of the gingerbread man. “Wouldn’t you rather eat the cream than stick it into your eyebrows?”

“Obviously.” Nino glanced at her. “Here, you missed a bit.” He wiped a finger gently across the corner of her mouth, before absently licking the cream off his finger. Oblivious to Sabrina’s blush at the sweet little gesture, he sipped his hot chocolate again and very unromantically said, “So who’s your favourite superhero?”

“Wait a second, you missed a bit,” Sabrina said flatly, smashing a napkin over his face. Nino gave a muffled complaint, grabbing her hand to pull it away. “Hey! Watch the glasses!” He straightened them crossly, most of his moustache now gone. He glared at Sabrina, who was watching him with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

Sabrina rolled her eyes and was about to respond when she spotted movement on the potted rose. She glanced at it, and saw a large green insect perched on the stem.

She wasn’t scared of insects, not really, as long as they weren’t a) evil black butterflies or b) touching her. But this was a big one, and as she moved to look closer it turned its head sharply to meet her gaze with large, glowing white eyes.

That couldn’t be good. Or normal.

Nino saw her staring and followed her gaze. “Uh… what is that?”

“I think it’s a mantis,” Sabrina said slowly. “But it doesn’t look… normal.”

The mantis’s head jolted the other way to look at Nino as he moved, its eyes quickly flickering green before returning to white. “Whoa!” He recoiled, staring at it. “Are their eyes supposed to glow like that?”

“I’m going to guess no,” Sabrina responded, watching the insect with a growing sense of foreboding.

“So… does that mean…?” Nino began, in a similarly concerned tone, before the mantis jumped in a fraction of a second and latched onto his wrist.

Nino shrieked, but the mantis had only grabbed onto his bracelet. The green stone gleamed in the light, and Sabrina reasoned that the insect had just mistaken the glint for prey. This reasoning was supported by the fact that the mantis proceeded to wrap its forelegs around the cord and begin to bite at it. Sabrina allowed herself to hope that it might just be a normal insect after all.

Nino seemed unreasonably concerned, however. “Get it off!” he demanded, shaking his arm wildly, but the bug held fast. By now, Marinette had come over to see what the fuss was about. “Nino, what are you doing?” She frowned at the sight of the insect clinging to his arm.

“It’s a mantis,” Sabrina informed her. A second later, the mantis glanced up at Marinette. Its eyes suddenly flickered red, and it let go of the bracelet and leaped at Marinette instead, crawling quickly up her arm towards her face. Marinette shrieked, knocking it off her shoulder; it immediately began heading for her foot again. She sidestepped, unwilling to stamp on it.

“What’s up with its eyes?” Nino questioned as Marinette backed away. They were answered a moment later as a girl clad entirely in green landed lightly on the pavement outside the bakery. She wasn’t focused on them, however; she appeared to be whispering to something she held cupped in her hands. Moments later she was gone again, leaping at high speed up to the top of the building across the street.

“Akuma,” Marinette groaned, still avoiding the mantis that seemed determined to climb her leg. “Unless there’s a mantis Miraculous holder now too.”

“Doesn’t seem likely,” Nino muttered. He took out his phone and sent out an alert, checking the Ladyblog for others. “Yep. The first alert was two minutes ago, and everyone’s commenting about mantises with glowing eyes.”

Marinette was already heading for the back room. “I should go find Alya. Make sure she stays out of the way.”

“Want some help?” Nino asked.

“Sure,” Marinette called. “Just let me tell Maman that I’m leaving.”

Sabrina was watching the mantis. It had stopped in the middle of the floor, its eyes flickering red and green as it wiggled its antennae. Then three more of them suddenly crawled under the door. Even more appeared creeping up the windows.

“I think we should go,” Sabrina said nervously, as the mantises’ eyes all flickered red and they started to follow Marinette into the back room.

“Yeah. Marinette, are you coming?” Nino dropped a cake dome over three of the insects, and they furiously clawed at the plastic.

“You go on ahead, I’ll catch up!” Marinette responded, and the door to the back slammed.

“Come on,” Nino insisted, pulling Sabrina towards the door. “We need to get out of here.”

Some of the mantises were starting to squeeze under the door after Marinette. Sabrina wondered why they were so fixated on her. Maybe she had done something to cause the akuma?

“I heard there’s a bit of an infestation going on here?” Chat Noir was suddenly in the doorway, gazing at the mantises, some of which began waving their antennae and heading back towards him, their eyes now glowing dark grey.

“They’re dead set on following Marinette, dude,” Nino told him. “Not sure why.”

“I’ll handle it,” Chat grinned. “The others should be here soon. I saw Rena on my way over here.”

“We saw the akuma,” Nino told him. “Some girl dressed in green. Don’t know where she went, though.”

“Thanks.” Chat nodded. “I’ll keep my eyes open for her. You guys should get to safety now. Let me help Marinette.” He sprang into the shop past the other escaping patrons, slamming through the door to the back and disappearing.

Once they were outside, Nino turned to face Sabrina and she read in his eyes what he was going to say.

“Where are you going?” she demanded. “And why can’t I come with you?”

Nino looked surprised, then uncomfortable. “I told Mari I would go and find Alya, remember? And won’t you be in trouble with your pops if you go near the akuma?”

“Don’t you trust Alya to stay out of trouble?” Sabrina questioned.

“Not as much as I trust you,” Nino responded. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Look, I’m sorry this has happened again, but I really have to go. I’ll be back before you know I’m gone.”

“There’s something you aren’t telling me, Nino Lahiffe,” Sabrina said as he turned away. She crossed her arms. “And I want to know what it is.”

Nino looked back at her. “Soon,” he promised. “I want you to know. But not yet.”

Then he was sprinting away from her again, and she bit the inside of her cheek crossly. “Be more cryptic, why don’t you?” she shouted after him, but he didn’t respond. Suddenly furious, Sabrina glared around her and spotted something surprising- Chat Noir, standing on the bakery roof with Marinette in his arms. Chat leaped down to street level, landing near her, close enough that she could hear his next words.

“Alright, princess,” he told Marinette. “I’ll get you far enough away from those bugs’ grasping claws, and then I can deal with their mother.”

“Thanks, Chat Noir,” Marinette said, but she rolled her eyes. “But don’t keep Ladybug waiting just for me.”

“My Lady can handle herself,” Chat said proudly. “These mantises might be tough, but she’s the fiercest bug I know.” He carried Marinette away over the rooftops; moments later Sabrina saw a small swarm of mantises march out of the bakery, spread their wings and disperse into the sky.

She jumped as Carapace landed next to her. “Hey, Rainie,” he said. “Are you ok?”

“I guess so,” Sabrina muttered.

Carapace didn’t comment on her terse tone, just picked her up. “I’d better get you somewhere safe anyway. Rena and Bee are still trying to find the akuma.”

A mantis landed clumsily on Sabrina’s arm then, its eyes glowing green. It began heading for Carapace’s wrist, but she knocked it off sharply. Taking out her phone and opening the Ladyblog, she was met with a few blurry photographs of the akuma girl and many of mantises with shining white eyes. Rena and Bee had been reported all over the city, but there was no sign of Ladybug yet.

A new post popped up and she opened it to see a video of Carapace landing next to her. “ _Hey, Rainie_ ,” she heard distantly on the clip. _Uh oh. Now I’m in trouble._

“Let’s go,” Sabrina said quickly. New alerts were appearing. “The akuma is near Notre Dame.”

Just then, there was a shrill beeping. Carapace set her down again to pull his shield off his back. “Sorry, I have to get this,” he said, pressing the accept button on the handle. Rena’s face appeared on the little screen.

“Carapace, stop pratting about with your girlfriend and get your turtle butt over here!” the fox hero demanded. “The akuma’s got Bee captive and I can’t-” She stopped to slap an orange-eyed mantis off her shoulder. “There are too many of these things! They’re Miraculous-seeking or something, they keep trying to get to my necklace. Grab Ladybug if you can, me and Chat could do with her help.” She slapped another mantis off her arm and looked up. “Oh… wait… she’s here.” She glared at Carapace. “Now we’re just waiting on you.” She hung up before he could respond.

A flood of alerts pinged onto the Ladyblog, videos of the akuma hanging upside down from a bridge gripping Queen Bee around the shoulders with her fierce spiked arms. The bee hero kicked and shrieked, but the akuma’s grip was iron.

“I need to get over there,” Carapace said urgently. “But I…” he glanced around at the gathering crowd. “I’m not leaving you here. Let’s go, Rainie.”

“Did you tell her that I’m your girlfriend?” Sabrina asked as he carried her towards Notre Dame. Mantises with glowing green eyes collided with them several times, but she swatted them away.

“No,” Carapace said. “She was just joking.” He huffed. “I’ll have a word with her after the battle, I don’t want that rumour getting around. It could be dangerous for you.” He put her down on a rooftop overlooking the scene; Sabrina could just make out the yellow shape of Queen Bee under the bridge below. “You should be safe here. I’ll come and fetch you down after we’re done.” He sprang off the roof without another word, shouting a greeting as he got close enough to the other colourful shapes darting around the bridge.

Sabrina squinted for a minute or so before giving up and pulling up a video of the attack on her phone. She could see the akuma more clearly now; clad entirely in green, with pale green skin, black bug-like eyes and dark blonde hair in messy curls. Four apparently decorative filmy wings were attached at the small of her back, she was hanging by her feet from the bridge and her forearms were covered by a pair of long barbed hooks like a mantis’s front legs. These arms were wrapped tightly around Queen Bee.

“Hand over your Miraculouses, Ladybug and Chat Noir!” the akuma demanded, her voice loud and slightly distorted. “Or I’ll take hers and drop her into the river! I wonder if bees can swim?”

Sabrina winced in sympathy as the akuma’s spiked arms dug into Queen Bee’s shoulders; her suit seemed to be holding out against the blades for now, but the bee hero was definitely uncomfortable.

Ladybug swatted at the red-eyed mantises mobbing her head, knocking them away from her earrings. “We’re not quite out of options yet, Mother Mantis,” she said. “ _Lucky Charm!_ ” In a flash of light, a small object fell into Ladybug’s hand.

Mother Mantis didn’t speak, but her eyes flashed red, and as one the mantises swarmed Ladybug, covering her shape with clawing green legs. As Ladybug struggled to sweep them off, and the other heroes moved closer in alarm, the Lucky Charm fell to the ground and a little cluster of mantids seized hold of it, beginning to drag it away. Rena spotted it, and lunged to reclaim it, but another swarm immediately dive-bombed her head, tangling themselves in her long hair.

By the time the mantises had settled again, the object, whatever it was, was gone, nudged into the flow of the river by the insects.

Mother Mantis smiled, showing sharpened mandibles behind her lips. She was suddenly a lot more unsettling than Sabrina had thought, still clutching Queen Bee in a death grip. The mantises had settled on the bridge around her, their eyes turned towards the heroes.

“Have you lost something?” she taunted, her voice still loud and strange-sounding.

“Why’s she talking like that?” Rena said crossly, and the akuma’s gaze immediately darted towards her. Chat’s tail lashed in agitation, and the beady eyes followed it.

Sabrina could see Ladybug’s mind racing. The spotted heroine clapped her hands in a large and visible motion, and the eyes fixated on her.

“Carapace, you need to retrieve the Lucky Charm,” Ladybug told him. “But not yet. Wait a minute.” She flipped open her yoyo. Seconds later, Rena’s flute began beeping. Rena glanced at Ladybug in confusion, but Ladybug was watching the akuma.

The akuma didn’t respond. Her eyes remained fixed suspiciously on Ladybug.

“I think she’s deaf,” Ladybug said suddenly. She lifted her hand to her mouth, covering it from view. “Chat, cover your mouth.”

Chat’s hand went up and the akuma’s gaze jerked over to him. Ladybug spoke into her hand. “Look. She doesn’t respond to noise without movement.” Indeed, the akuma’s eyes remained fixed on Chat, though she appeared quite irritated now.

“Hand over your Miraculouses!” she bellowed again, squeezing Queen Bee even tighter.

“Yeah, that’s great, Ladybug, but do you think you could get a move on?!” Queen Bee yelled.

“Do we have a plan, milady?” Chat asked, still speaking into his hand.

“I believe we do, kitty cat. I just need to know what that Lucky Charm was first.”

“On it, LB!” Carapace plunged into the river, and the mantises that flew at him drew back as he dived beneath the surface.

"Ok, for now, you two get everyone off the bridge!” Ladybug ordered. Rena and Chat nodded, and jumped across to the crowd of onlookers. Ladybug smiled at Queen Bee, still speaking behind her hand. “I wonder if _mantises_ can swim?”

Trapped by her need to keep hold of Queen Bee, Mother Mantis could only watch in confusion as the heroes sprang into action. Ladybug followed the others onto the bridge, using her yoyo to break up the mantis swarms before they could attack her teammates.

Sabrina was watching the river. Carapace was an excellent swimmer, everyone in Paris knew that. But he was taking a while to find the Lucky Charm, and Ladybug’s timer must be starting to run out by now…

Finally, he emerged, and at the first glimpse of red in his fist the mantises all dived for him. Ladybug was swift behind them, and Carapace tossed the Charm to her just before disappearing in a cloud of furious mantises.

Ladybug, after a brief pause, raised the Charm to her mouth. A second later, the mantises scattered, most of them dropping to the ground.

It was a whistle, although it made no sound as Ladybug blew into it. At least, it didn’t seem to. The mantises scurried away from her, and Mother Mantis winced back, her grip loosening slightly.

“Stop that!” she ordered, and her eyes flashed red again. The mantises began heading back towards Ladybug, but another blast of the silent whistle made them withdraw. Ladybug smiled, and used the whistle again.

This time, Mother Mantis hissed and let go of Queen Bee to clamp her hands over her ears. Immediately, Queen Bee swung a punch at the mantis akuma, who blocked with surprising speed. Her arms lashed out in a fraction of a second, threatening to grab onto the bee heroine again at any moment.

Sabrina, however, already knew how this was going to end, and from her smile and nod to Chat, it seemed Ladybug did too.

Queen Bee kept Mother Mantis distracted while Rena cleared the last few people off the bridge. As Chat armed Cataclysm a safe distance away, Ladybug blew on the whistle again, causing the mantis akuma to flinch and disengage for a moment to cover her ears. Rena sent an illusory Queen Bee to replace the real one, who darted clear. Then the bridge was crumbling, even as Mother Mantis swiped at the illusion and cut through it like smoke.

With a shriek the akuma splashed into the river, her mantises crawling to the edge of the water but unwilling to follow her in.

“I guess they can’t swim,” Ladybug commented. “At least not well.” She spun her yoyo, wrapping it around the akuma’s wrist and starting to pull the girl towards the bank. “How are your shoulders, Bee? Any clues on the item?”

“I’ll be fine after a hot bath,” Queen Bee grumbled, wincing as she rolled her shoulders. “And she’s got a necklace.” She watched the akuma struggle onto the bank, with the mantises flocking anxiously over her form.

Ladybug tossed her the whistle. “Nice work, Bee.”

“Thanks, Ladybug!” Queen Bee grinned, hugging the spotted hero fleetingly before darting down to the edge of the river. Mantis Mother swiped feebly at her, but Queen Bee gave a quick blast on the whistle and the girl covered her head as the mantises around her went still. The bee heroine neatly unfastened a silver chain around the girl’s neck and carried it back up to Ladybug; moments later, Sabrina watched Miraculous Ladybug coursing across the sky. Queen Bee pulled the girl by the river up onto her feet and helped her up the bank, while the crowd cheered as the heroes dispersed. The video cut out, and Sabrina looked up to see Carapace heading back her way.

“Want me to take you back to the bakery?” he asked.

“Well, my hot chocolate will be cold by now,” Sabrina sighed. “But I suppose so.”

“Marinette will probably make u- I mean, you some fresh,” Carapace said. “She’s nice like that.”

“Chat certainly likes her,” Sabrina agreed.

“Yeah, he-” Carapace paused. “Wait, how did you know about Chat and Marinette?”

“He probably shouldn’t call her ‘princess’ in earshot of other people,” Sabrina said drily. “Just like you should probably stop calling me ‘Rainie.” She held up her phone to show him; the Ladyblog had a new thread, opened a couple of minutes ago, titled ‘Who is Rainy?’” with a link to the video she had seen earlier.

“Uh.” Carapace looked at it. “Sorry.”

“So what do I need to do now, dye my hair purple and move to Sweden? Alya will know it’s me, and so will everyone else in class.”

“Alya… will probably want to hang out with you a lot more, yeah.” Carapace winced. “Sorry, I should have been more subtle. Just, uh, don’t tell people about Chat and Marinette. A- Chat would never forgive me.”

“So you know Alya and Marinette, then,” Sabrina observed.

“Sorta,” Carapace said guardedly. “I’ve seen them around.”

“It sounded like you know Alya pretty well.”

“I’ve done interviews with her for the Ladyblog, so yeah, you could say that.” They landed on a street corner. “Oh, look at that, we’re back at the bakery.” Carapace put her down. “I have to go now, Rainie. Are we still on for tomorrow night?”

“If you’re bringing the gingerbread.”

“You know it.”  
Sabrina smiled, pushing her windswept hair out of her face. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Carapace smiled back, making her heart skip a little, and then he was jumping away over the bakery roof. Despite the clouds rolling in, Sabrina still felt warm, happy. She didn’t want to think too much about why, or she might have started to feel guilty.

She didn’t have to wait long before Nino and Marinette arrived back, out of breath. They were laughing, but Sabrina quickly felt all of her annoyance bubble up again. She just wanted to go home and calm down, or she was going to snap at Nino, she could feel it. Even as he waved and moved to stand beside her, she kept a stony silence.

“Can I get you two fresh drinks?” Marinette asked. “They’ll be cold by now.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Mari,” Nino beamed, but Sabrina shook her head.

“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I kind of just want to go home now.” She looked up at Nino’s disappointed face and gritted her teeth at the sting in her heart. “I need to think.” Without waiting for a response, she turned away to walk home. She heard Marinette murmur something, and Nino respond, but they didn’t follow her, and she was glad of that. She needed time alone with her thoughts.

 

Of course, she didn’t get it. She got home to her father stressing over her face being plastered all over the news. As expected, they knew who she was. Somebody had identified her, and her father was ranting about how it was only a matter of time until the press tracked down their address.

“I’m driving you to and from school for the next few weeks,” he told her. “Don’t leave the school during your breaks. And if the press find you, just say ‘no comment’ and keep walking. I told you to stay away from the heroes!”

“Dad, I don’t want to talk about this now!” Sabrina retorted. “I’m going upstairs.”

“Sabrina.” Roger put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You can’t get away from this now. Everyone in Paris will soon know who you are and want to know about Carapace. Hawk Moth will know, he might know already.”

“I know!” Sabrina felt all the irritation towards Nino, resentment towards Carapace and now her impatience with her father rise to the surface again, and this time she snapped. “But I don’t need you to protect me, Dad! Just let me handle it!”

“You’re not an adult yet, Sabrina-”

“But I’m not a little kid! I don’t need you to save me all the time! Nobody else’s parents care if they go to watch the akuma battles-”

“Sabrina-”

“No, Dad, just listen. I can handle myself! Nino gets that, why don’t you?”

Roger was silent. “And yet that turtle hero keeps saving you.”

“His name is Carapace, Dad! And maybe he gets me out of the way sometimes, but he doesn’t just drop everything to make sure I’m as far away from the akuma as humanly possible! He gets that I’m all right on my own and helps other people instead! Maybe you should try and be more like him!” She clenched her fists, trying to force back her sob.

“Sabrina.” Her father moved towards her, wrapping her in a hug when she didn’t move away. “All right. I hear you. You know that I am only trying to keep you safe.” He patted her on the back as she started to cry. “I also know that that wasn’t all directed at me. Have you had a bad day?”

Sabrina nodded, her face pressed into his shirt.

“Ok.” Roger patted her head. “Come on. We’re going to make brownies and watch a movie.” It was their go-to cheer-up method, prescribed whenever one of them had had a bad day. They kept the ingredients for the brownies constantly in the house, so they were never unable to make them.

The thought of warm chocolate brownies immediately brightened Sabrina’s mood, despite everything that had happened, and she wiped her eyes and hurried into the kitchen.

“Sorry about before, Dad,” Sabrina said a few minutes later, as he was melting the chocolate on the stove. “For shouting at you. And I’ll try to keep out of the news for a while.”

“Don’t worry about it, carrot cake,” he said absently, focused on the pan. Playfully, Sabrina blew a cloud of flour at him. He coughed and shook his head, glaring at her in mock anger. “Hey! I hope you know that you’re cleaning up in here after this.”

“Only if I can choose the movie,” Sabrina replied.

“Hmm.” Roger thought about it. “Deal, but… I get the first brownie.”

“Hey, no! You can’t set extra laws after the contract is signed!”

“Who’s the police officer here?”

Sabrina ran into the living room and snatched his hat off the arm of the sofa. “Me. Obviously.” She set it atop her head. “Now what is this I hear about forging extra stipulations?”

Roger snorted, still stirring the chocolate. “Oh, I’m sorry, Officer Raincomprix, I didn’t see you there! Nothing untoward going on here, I assure you.”

“Well, I believe the law of the house states that whomever had the bad day that caused the manufacture of brownies should always be the first to receive one.” Sabrina crossed her arms. “Therefore I get the first brownie and all other contracts are null and void.”

“Ok, Officer.” Roger held his hand up in surrender as he tipped the chocolate into the mixing bowl. “Now might we return to the business of brownie making?”

“Very well.” Sabrina nodded, and returned to measuring out the flour. She kept the hat on though. Just in case her father needed another reminder of who ran this brownie manufacturing operation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mantises are deaf except for high-pitched noises, look it up.
> 
> (l love mantises. I'm not saying Mother Mantis is my akumasona, but she's... probably my akumasona.)
> 
> Also sorry for the super long hiatus, I kind of lost interest a bit? This will get finished at some point. Probably. I'm just not going to set a time frame on that.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day was a Sunday, and Roger had an evening shift. Mindful of her bad mood the day before, he woke Sabrina fairly early so that they could eat brownies for breakfast and head out shopping. Shopping trips with her father were in many ways better than the ones with Chloe; Sabrina could hardly afford anything in Chloe’s favourite shops and she often ended up just carrying around Chloe’s many purchases.

With her dad, she was allowed to go in her favourite shops, and they would always stop for an ice cream or a pastry at midday, depending on the weather. The April showers were well and truly underway, so it would be a pastry day today.

They stopped by a little jewellery shop, where Sabrina picked out a pretty silver and blue raindrop-shaped pendant. All day they made a game of keeping their heads down, but nobody approached her, thankfully. Sabrina hoped people just didn’t care that much. She spotted a few people who seemed to recognise her, including a girl about her age who shot her a dark look, but the trip went essentially undisturbed.

By the time they got home at 5pm, laden with shopping bags full of new clothes, Sabrina had forgotten all about her bad day. Waving her dad off for his shift, she sat down to watch TV for a couple of hours, waiting for darkness to draw in and bring Carapace knocking at her window. The news about her had died away already with the reports about the day’s akuma attack, which had struck far from where she and her father had been shopping.

Ten minutes before Carapace was set to arrive, Sabrina headed to the kitchen to boil the kettle and cut a couple of brownies. Carrying the brownies upstairs, she took the time to open the window slightly before going back downstairs to make the hot chocolate. Predictably, when she got back upstairs Carapace was sitting on the window seat, munching on a brownie.

“Nice brownies,” he mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs, and Sabrina snorted before crossing the room to pass him the mug of hot chocolate.

“How many marshmallows?” she asked, popping open the jar.

“Seven,” came the immediate response. “It’s the magic number.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes. “You’d get along with my boyfriend. That’s what he says, too.”

“Clearly you have good taste in men, then, Rainie.” Carapace watched as she counted seven marshmallows into his mug, then took a solemn sip. Then he jumped as Sabrina suddenly clicked her fingers, finally recalling something.

“Oh! I just remembered!” Sabrina narrowed her eyes at the turtle hero. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

Carapace aimed a finger gun at her. “Shoot.”

“That first night. How did you know my name was Sabrina?”

Carapace frowned. “Didn’t you tell me?”

“No. You said you recognised me as ‘Officer Raincomprix’s daughter.’ Remember?”

“Uhhhh…” Carapace turned away. “Oh! Uh, yeah. I remembered your name because… I think Chat was talking about you one time?”

“He was?”

“Yeah, LB and Chat talk about past akumas sometimes, the ones they defeated on their own. You’re Sabrina Raincomprix as in Vanisher, right?”

_She was reaching for Ladybug’s earring, an encouraging voice whispering in her ear. She was so close! She could feel the power radiating from that tiny piece of jewellery. She would get it for him, Ladybug would never see it coming-_

“Rainie?” Carapace was saying. “Are you ok?”

Sabrina shook her head to clear it. “I’m fine. Yes, you’re right, I was Vanisher.”

Carapace looked at her sympathetically. “Hey, it’s ok. A lot of akuma victims don’t like to talk about it. I get it.”

“Have you been akumatised?” Sabrina asked quietly.

Carapace was silent for a long time, so long that Sabrina almost apologised and withdrew the question. Eventually, though, he shrugged. “Yeah. Before I got my Miraculous, the Big Bad Moth Man got to me.”

“The Big Bad Moth Man.”

“Better name than Hawk Moth. What is he, half bird, half moth?”

“Actually, hawk moths are just a big type of moth,” Sabrina smiled. “But the akumas are butterflies, so his name doesn’t make a lot of sense anyway.”

“If we find him and he’s skipping around with sparkly butterfly wings on I’m going to lose my mind.” They chuckled, before an expectant pause fell again. Carapace sipped his hot chocolate.

“Well… obviously I can’t ask what your akuma was,” Sabrina said. “But… I can ask if you still get the dreams, right?”

“Who doesn’t?” Carapace laughed, but there was no humour in it. “The stuff that dude did while he was in my body… it’s hard to think about.” He shifted uncomfortably, and Sabrina rested a hand on his shoulder.

“I can remember how close I got to taking Ladybug’s earring,” Sabrina murmured. “And some of what I did to Chloe. But my nightmares aren’t usually about Vanisher, or what she did. They’re about being invisible again. Walking around... and nobody can see or hear me. And nobody notices that I’m gone.”

Carapace slid an arm around her almost unconsciously, pulling her closer. “I’d notice.”

Sabrina smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. “Thanks, Carapace.”

There was an easy silence for a few moments.

“Anyway. How was your date yesterday? I’m guessing the akuma crashed it.”

“Yes, it did,” Sabrina said flatly, abruptly drawing away from him. “I don’t really want to talk about it, actually.”

 “That bad?” Carapace said sadly.

Sabrina sighed. “It wasn’t his fault. But he seems to disappear so much nowadays, and then only reappear after the akuma is gone. If he’s afraid, or really excited to see the battles, I’d understand, but I wish he’d consider me before he runs for the hills.”

“Hey, I’m sure he thinks about you,” Carapace put a hand on her shoulder and grinned, though his warm brown eyes were oddly shiny. “How could he not? You’re an amazing girl.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who thinks so,” Sabrina sighed, pushing his hand away. Carapace looked surprised for a moment, before gently pulling her to face him.

“Rainie, don’t say that,” he said quietly. “I know there are people who care about you a lot.”

“Like who?” Sabrina snapped, forcing back the tears that pricked at her eyes. She clenched her fists.

“Your pops, for one,” Carapace stared fiercely into her eyes. “And me.”

“You’ve only known me for three weeks!” Sabrina protested.

“And that was enough,” Carapace insisted, gripping her shoulders in his hands. “I know you better than I know some of my teammates at this point, because you have time to talk to me. I fight alongside my teammates, and they’re my friends, and civilians like to ask me questions about Carapace, but nobody tries to speak to the person under the mask. Except you.”

“You’re a superhero,” Sabrina muttered. “You’re interesting, because I can’t make any assumptions about you from face value. I wanted to know who you were.”

“As opposed to everyone else, who just wanted to ask me about what it’s like being a superhero, and take my picture.”

 Sabrina said nothing, looking away. Carapace took her hand gently. “Hey. C’mon, I want to show you something. Hopefully it’ll make up for crashing your date yesterday. This’ll be a better date, I promise.”

 “I thought you had a girlfriend?” Sabrina frowned.

“I thought you had a boyfriend, but you’re still going for a moonlit rooftop stroll with me.”

“A what?” Carapace pushed the window open and Sabrina drew back. “You want me to climb around on rooftops?”

“You scared?” Carapace raised an eyebrow.

“Considering I don’t have a reinforced superhero suit or enhanced jumping abilities, yes.” Sabrina stepped further from the window. “Even if I had that, I don’t think I’d be enthusiastic.”

“...OK, fair points. But the feeling is so worth it, like the whole city is yours to explore.” Carapace sighed. “Everyone should get to see Paris like us heroes do. If I had a spare Miraculous lying around, I’d definitely let you have a run with it. Wayzz says there are quite a few kicking around.”

“Wayzz?”

“Oh! He’s my kwami.” Carapace glanced over, appreciating her blank expression. “He’s a little, uhhh, fairy thing that gives me my powers. Green turtle dude, about this big.” He held up his finger and thumb a few inches apart. “Every Miraculous has a kwami. Mine gets through a ridiculous amount of lettuce and green tea. I wish you could meet him, but he’s in here at the moment.” He tapped a finger against his bracelet. “Maybe soon, though.”

“OK.” Sabrina could think of no other response. The existence of the Miraculous was so illogical anyway that the extra detail of each having its own fairy was surprisingly unremarkable to her mind. Paris had become a world of unbelievable events at around the time that evil, villain-creating butterflies had started appearing.

“Anyway, are you ready to go?” Carapace perched on the window ledge and held out his hand. “It’s gorgeous out there.” When Sabrina hesitated, hanging back, he met her gaze properly, his irises gleaming amber in the glimmer of the streetlights. “I promise, Sabrina, I won’t let you fall.”

Sabrina took a tentative step closer. “Are you sure this is ok? I thought you were on patrol tonight, won’t I slow you down?”

“I got Chat to cover for me,” Carapace said, keeping his hand out. “I wanted to check on you after yesterday. I can’t have you being miserable, Rainie, now can I?”

Sabrina huffed quietly in amusement, and took his hand. He grinned easily, helping her out of the window to lean against him, wrapping an arm firmly under her ribs. Then he helped her up onto the roof above, supporting her feet as she scrabbled untidily onto the tiles. He joined her easily, hefting himself up after her with lean arms.

“It looks so different already,” Sabrina murmured, looking out over the sweeping rooves. Carapace smiled.

“Not a lot of people get to see it like this,” he said, taking her hand. “Come on. You can run the first bit yourself.”

Sabrina followed the gentle pull of his hand up the roof of her home, to the highest part, then they walked to the narrow space between her house and the neighbours’.

“You want me to jump over that?” Sabrina backed away. “No way.”

Carapace looked at her. “I said I wouldn’t let you fall. You can do it. I’ll hold your hand.”

Sabrina gazed at the gap, her mind running steady calculations. Theoretically, it was possible. But the roof on the other side was slippery with the recent rain, and her shoes didn’t really have brilliant grip.

“I don’t think so,” Sabrina shook her head, stepping back again. “Maybe I should just go back inside.” She shivered. “It’s cold up here.”

Carapace stepped closer, grasping her hand tighter to make sure she didn’t slip. “OK,” he said quietly. “If you don’t want to jump, I won’t make you. One step at a time.”

Sabrina gave him a little smile. “Like with the hot chocolate?”

“Like the hot chocolate,” Carapace agreed. His smile turned mischievous as he stepped closer still. “Speaking of which, do you like it yet?”

“I’m gaining an appreciation for it,” Sabrina smiled. He was so close now that her hair was brushing against his hood, and she felt a touch of warmth on her face from his breath as he turned to face her. The air suddenly felt different, heavier somehow. It tingled with such promise, the sensation so familiar from those kisses she’d stolen from Nino after school when Chloe was looking the other way.

_Nino._ A flash of guilt shot through her mind. She couldn’t do this, even if she really wanted to. Reluctantly, she stepped back, willing her hands to stop shaking. “So, um, are we going on this stroll or not?”

Carapace hesitated for just a moment, then jumped almost seamlessly back into action. “Yes!” He coughed, and put on a tour-guide, chipper tone as he picked her up, arms curled under her shoulders and knees. “Our first stop will be the Arc d’Triomphe, then we’ll spin by Notre Dame and the Pont de L’Archeveche, and finish with a climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower.” He slid down the roof, leaping neatly across to the next row of houses.

Sabrina yelped as they flew through the air. As Carapace ran across the tiles, she narrowed her eyes. “Wait, you want me to climb the Eiffel Tower?”

Carapace slid down the next roof and leaped again. “You can climb it if you want. I was going to carry you up there, but if you want to climb it I guess I’ll just meet you at the top.”

Sabrina was about to respond, but was interrupted by a yawn.

“Wow, Rainie, I didn’t know I was so boring.”

“No, no, I was just up late last night,” Sabrina yawned again.

“Even so, maybe we should cut our tour short,” Carapace said quietly. “It’s the Tower I really wanted to show you. Chances are we’ll run into Chat or LB over there, though; they’ll be starting their patrol there tonight.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not really.” Carapace frowned. “Although… LB isn’t too happy about how people keep seeing me with you, actually. She thinks it’ll put you in danger.” He rolled his eyes. “She never has a go at Chat about the girl he keeps hanging around with, though, and that girl’s never been targeted because of Chat, so I don’t really get her issue.”

“Is this a common hobby for male superheroes, sneaking into girls’ rooms at night?” Sabrina asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Eh.” Carapace shrugged. “We’ve both only got one girl each that we visit, so not really.”

“Why haven’t you been to visit your girlfriend?” Sabrina asked. As pleasant as Carapace’s visits were, she couldn’t help wondering about the other girl who was so unaware that her boyfriend was sneaking around in a turtle suit.

“What, so she can fall in love with Carapace and decide she doesn’t like my civilian form any more?” Carapace leaped again, then began pacing along a row of rooves towards the glowing Eiffel Tower. “Or what if she’d recognised me?”

“Would she tell?” Sabrina quizzed.

“I don’t know. Would you?”

Sabrina paused. She must have misheard the inflection on that ‘you’. “I wouldn’t tell anyone who you were,” she responded. “It would put you in so much danger!” She yelped again as he made another leap, then continued. “Do you really think she’d do that to you?”

Carapace grinned. “Ahaha. She wouldn’t be a very good girlfriend, would she?”

“No,” Sabrina huffed, crossing her arms.

“Well, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t tell,” Carapace was practically beaming now, quickening his pace towards the tower. Sabrina briefly wondered why he was so delighted, but was distracted by footfalls nearby.

“Hey, shelly!”

“Whiskers!” Carapace slowed to a halt, setting Sabrina down gently and making sure she was balanced before turning to face Chat.

Chat glanced between them, his eyebrow raised beneath his mask. “I didn’t take over your patrol just so you could turtle-nap girls, shelly.”

“Ha ha. We’re just going to the Tower,” Carapace crossed his arms.

“Blink twice if you’re here against your will,” Chat stage-whispered to Sabrina, before cracking a toothy grin and strolling over to her. “Chat Noir. Purr-leased to make your acquaintance. Rainie, I believe?”

“Sabrina,” she corrected quietly, but she allowed him to kiss her hand gently.

Chat straightened up, twirling his tail around his fingers. “You’d better scoot, shelly. My lady will be here any minute, and she might not take so kindly to you ditching patrol to take your girlfriend on a romantic rooftop stroll.”

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Sabrina said hotly, confused by the look Chat and Carapace shared.

“Well, like you said, we’d better go,” Carapace said quickly, picking Sabrina up again. “Guess I’ll see you later, whiskers.” Before Chat could reply, Carapace was on his way to the Tower again, sprinting across the courtyard around it and springing onto the base.

As he began to climb, Sabrina nervously slid her arms around his neck, twisting herself slightly to look down as the rooves fell further away. Carapace balanced neatly on the beams of the Tower, but his perches grew more precarious as they reached higher.

Finally, they were seated on a ledge just above the top viewing platform, Carapace’s arm linked with Sabrina’s to make absolutely sure that she couldn’t fall.

“It’s amazing,” Sabrina murmured, not sure which direction to look in first. Far below, the city shone, a million tiny lights blinking and glaring, almost drowning out the stars that were just visible against the sky above. The river wound by below, a silver snake with endless glittering, rippling scales.

“Yeah, it’s one radical view,” Carapace smiled. “Stunning, really.”

Sabrina glanced at him, and he looked away sharply. Suddenly shy, Sabrina gazed down at the city sprawled out below. “Carapace?”

“Yeah?”

“Why me? Why do you… keep saving me? Visiting me?”

Carapace shrugged. “I mean… the h-”

“Don’t say it,” Sabrina said flatly. “You know what I meant. I wasn’t even in danger yesterday, with the mantises, but you still found me first before even going to fight the akuma. Why do you care so much about me?”

Carapace turned to face her, his amber eyes reflecting a thousand little freckles of light. “There’s a reason,” he said seriously. “And I… know now, that I can trust you. So I… don’t see why you can’t know.”

Curious, Sabrina leaned closer. “What is it?”

Drawing in a deep breath, Carapace chuckled. “Man, Ladybug told me not to do this… but you really need to know. So… here goes nothing. Wayzz, shell-”

“Carapace!”

Carapace yelped, looking down. Ladybug was perched on the ledge below them, looking very unimpressed. “Uhhh… hey, LB. How’s the patrol going?”

Ladybug sighed. “Carapace, we talked about this. You’re putting Sabrina in danger.” Her eyes flashed. “And I hope I didn’t just interrupt what I think I interrupted.”

“Hey, what’s it to you?” Carapace said indignantly, ruffled at the intervention.

“Carapace, keeping our identities a secret is so important! How do you know Sabrina wouldn’t tell people who you are?”

“I wouldn’t tell anyone!” Sabrina was angry now too, but Ladybug just shook her head. Carapace hopped down from the ledge, helping Sabrina down afterwards. He kept a tight hold on her hand as he faced Ladybug.

“Chat visits Marinette all the time and you don’t act like this!” Carapace protested. “What’s the difference?”

Ladybug ignored the question. “I’m asking you as a friend, Carapace, please rethink this. Knowing your identity could put Sabrina in so much danger, and I don’t want you to have to deal with her being hurt because of you. She’s already in danger because of the ‘Rainie’ video.”

Carapace looked at Sabrina. With a sigh, all the anger seemed to rush out of him. “OK, LB. I guess your rules have worked so far.”

Ladybug smiled, and patted his shoulder. “It’s for her safety as well as yours, turtle boy.” She unclipped her yoyo and slung it upwards. “Be careful, Sabrina,” she said over her shoulder as she tugged on the string, leaping to the very point of the Tower.

“Come on,” Carapace said, sounding subdued. “I’ll take you home.”

Neither of them spoke on the way back. Sabrina’s anger cooled in the night air, replaced by an aching curiosity about what Carapace was hiding. His boots thudded, slid, leaped and thudded again, roof to roof in a monotonous pattern, until finally Sabrina felt him lowering her to the ground.

Her father’s car was still absent from the driveway, and Sabrina was determined not to let Carapace leave in his dour mood, so once back through the window she hurried downstairs to cut more brownies out of the tray. No doubt her father would wonder how she had eaten so many in one night, but she was barely thinking of that now.

Carapace was sitting on the window seat when she got back upstairs, and he accepted the plate without comment. Taking a bold step, Sabrina nudged in next to him, their shoulders pressed together.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

“I’ll be fine.” Carapace bit into the brownie, his eyebrows furrowed grumpily under his mask.

“What are you sulking for?” Sabrina teased, surprised when his amber eyes fell on her again, serious and smouldering with concern.

“Ladybug doesn’t understand,” he muttered. “And I’m sorry, but until I can show you who I am, you won’t either.”

“You could still talk to me about it,” Sabrina suggested, but Carapace shook his head, smiling grimly.

“No. But you could prove me wrong. Maybe.” He glanced at her. “I don’t think you will.”

“Try me,” Sabrina insisted. Carapace sighed, and set down his brownie. Instead of a question, his lips curled into a smile. He took her hand gently, tracing his hands across the back of her hand before raising her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles gently.

Sabrina felt the air become heavier for the second time that evening, a tingling running through her skin. Carapace leaned forward, his hood brushing her hair again. Sabrina’s mind reminded her that this was some sort of test- but what did he want her to do? The roaring in her ears grew a little louder. Carapace paused, his breath warming her cheek. There was challenge in his eyes, and a little twinkle of melancholy.

This time, Sabrina leaned in a little, the roaring picking up again. Her hand found its way to his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. Sabrina closed her eyes, ignoring the fact that the dull roaring seemed to have cut off.

The kiss was short and sweet, but in Sabrina’s mind it was intense and powerful, somehow similar yet totally incomparable to kissing Nino. It barely lasted for a couple of seconds before Carapace gently pushed her away. “That’s what I thought,” he said, giving her a last smile before standing up and climbing out of the window. “I’ll see you later, Sabrina. I… need to think.” He scrambled up onto the roof.

"Wait, what?" Sabrina poked her head out of the window. "You're just going to leave? After that?"

Carapace didn't respond, just shooting her another sad smile before he vanished onto the roof.

A car door suddenly slammed on the street below, drawing both of their attention. “Wh- HEY!” Her father was standing on the driveway next to his car, looking up at them. Sabrina heard Carapace’s boots hurrying away across the roof, then her father’s eyes locked with hers, and he frowned. She ducked out of sight, closing the window, but only had time to hide the plates before she heard the steady _thud-thud-thud_ of his shoes up the stairs. The door flew open.

“Sabrina, do you want to explain to me _why_ exactly I just saw a boy climbing out of your bedroom window in the middle of the night?” Roger’s face was not angry, but it was stern, and worse, disappointed.

“Nothing happened,” Sabrina said quickly. “We ate some brownies and had a conversation. That’s all. Carapace is a friend.”

“I told you to distance yourself from him! Inviting him over for a midnight snack is the opposite of that.” Roger kneaded his temples. “Will you please listen to me? I know what’s best for you.”

“Ugh, everyone seems to ‘know what’s best’ for me at the moment!” Sabrina snapped. “Just go away, I want to sleep.”

“Sabrina-”

“Dad, seriously, just leave me alone. I’m tired. And I have school tomorrow.”

Roger sighed. “I’m disappointed in you, Sabrina. I thought I could trust you to keep yourself safe.”

“I haven’t been hit by an akuma attack since I met Carapace! That’s a better track record than yours.” Sabrina started trying to push the door shut. “Frankly, I think that means he’s doing a better job than you are.”

Roger said nothing, but stepped aside. Sabrina slammed the door, and listened to his footsteps shuffle down the hall before sinking down into a seated position against the door, frustrated tears biting at her eyes. Carapace, Nino, her dad… why were men all so difficult to deal with?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised angst, here we go >:)
> 
> hope you're ready for some emotional chaos


	7. Chapter 7

Her father still insisted on driving her to school the next morning, and Sabrina was honestly glad he did when they arrived at the school to see a scattering of reporters hanging around. Alya spotted the police car first and hurried over, Marinette in pursuit.

To Sabrina’s confusion, the two girls grabbed her arms as soon as she got out of the car. The confusion turned to relief as they marched her up to the school, keeping the reporters at bay as they attempted to block her path with microphones.

“She’s not talking!” Alya declared. “And I already called first interview anyway, so buzz off!”

As Alya broke off to clear their path further, Marinette shot Sabrina a sympathetic look. “Guess superhero friends are more trouble than they’re worth, huh?”

Sabrina almost responded with, _you don’t know the half of it,_ then remembered who she was talking to. She made sure everyone was out of earshot before replying drily, “Well, you’ve managed ok.”

Marinette frowned for a second, then shrugged.  “That’s different. Chat knows not to be so careless.”

“Carapace is not careless. He just made one mistake,” Sabrina argued. “It’s not his fault people went crazy over it.”

Marinette nodded. “Well, maybe you should have told Carapace to be a bit more subtle,” she amended under her breath. “At least Chat doesn’t shriek his nickname for me from the rooftops.”

“Whatever you say,” Sabrina raised her eyebrow. “Princess.”

Marinette choked. “How did you-”

“I overheard it on Saturday, outside the bakery.” Sabrina pulled her arm free as they arrived at the school. “Your superhero isn’t any more subtle than mine.”

Alya returned then, shoving them both through the doors. “Come on, let’s go. They won’t find you in the library.”

“But I have to wait for Chloe!”

Alya scoffed. “Chloe can carry her bag herself for once, she won’t die. Oh, hey Nino.”

Sabrina turned around. Nino was walking over, a bemused look on his face. “Where are you two taking Sabrina?” he asked.

“Nino, you know me, I have to get the scoop on Carapace!” Alya teased. “I promise she’ll get back to you in one piece.”

Nino’s face darkened a little at the mention of the superhero, and Sabrina felt guilt pierce through her again. “Um… maybe later, Alya? Nino and I need to talk.”

Alya started to complain, but Marinette shot Nino a sympathetic glance before dragging her friend away.  Nino smiled back, mouthing ‘thank you’ as the girls left.

“What’s up?” Nino asked, when they had crossed to their favourite bench.

Sabrina sighed. “I… I guess you know about the Carapace thing, right?”

“Oh. Yeah.” Nino scratched at the back of his head. “Yeah. So… what’s happening with that? Do you like… like him?”

“I… don’t know.” Sabrina couldn’t meet his eyes. “He’s my friend… as for anything else, I’m not sure it’s like that? He’s got a girlfriend, he knows I have a boyfriend, but… it’s confusing. I still love you, I just… I definitely also have some feelings about him.” She covered her face. “I’m sorry. It’s hard to explain.”

“Hey.” Nino put an arm around her shoulders. “I can’t say that isn’t hard to hear, but don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s really less complicated than you think.”

“In what way?” Sabrina asked, an edge creeping into her voice.

Nino gave a deep, exaggerated sigh. “It doesn’t matter. I won’t be angry, you know, if you prefer Carapace to me. Guess he’s more interesting, at least.”

“No!” Sabrina turned Nino to face her. “You’re just as interesting, if not more so. Carapace is a crush, maybe, but you’re my boyfriend.” Her voice grew stronger with her conviction. “I’m not going to ditch you for a boy who runs around in a turtle costume! Don’t you trust me?”

Nino looked startled, then smiled. “Heh. Of course I do, Brini.” He pulled her into a hug, which Sabrina quickly diverted into a kiss. Nino seemed a little shocked, but he didn’t pull away, and Sabrina did her best to push the memories of the kiss with Carapace out of her mind. _OK, it was a good kiss, but you’re with Nino. Next time you see Carapace, you’re going to mark out the line in the sand._

The memories still lingered a bit, but when they broke apart Nino seemed happier. “Come on,” he smiled. “Your BFF has arrived.”

Sabrina looked up. Chloe was marching through the doors, complaining to one of the hapless reporters about something. Casting a little grimace at Nino, Sabrina hurried to her friend’s side.

 

Sabrina had her head down that afternoon during Miss Bustier’s class, writing notes, when the classroom door opened. At first she didn’t look up, figuring it was just someone coming in late. But the uneasy silence that fell as Miss Bustier abruptly stopped talking made her lift her head.

In the doorway stood a peculiar figure. In Paris that description had quickly become synonymous with ‘akuma’. A girl probably around their age, she had long black pigtails, the colour fading dissonantly into ginger near the tips. She was wearing a diamond-patterned blue top and a long blue skirt, with a circlet decorated with raindrop-shaped crystals on her head. Extremely gaudy blue eyeshadow was smeared around her icy blue eyes, and her lips were coated in blue lipstick. She was barefoot, her skin almost deathly pale and tinged with blue in places.

“You know there are other colours beside blue, right?” Chloe sneered. The girl’s eyes ran around the classroom. She only smiled indulgently at Chloe’s comment, then clapped her hands in a business-like way. Sabrina spotted a silver and blue ring on her left hand.

“I am here for Marinette Dupain-Cheng and-” The akuma broke off, pulling a phone out of a pocket in her skirt and tapping a few times on the screen. Marinette was peering at the akuma, looking confused. Sabrina supposed she was wondering why the akuma was after her in particular, after all that didn’t happen to just anybo-

“Ah! And Sabrina Raincomprix!” The phone disappeared back into her pocket. “We have urgent matters to discuss.” She smiled at the silent class. “Would you two kindly come with me?”

Sabrina looked questioningly at Marinette, who shrugged. However, there was a subtle whisper of motion through the class, as the students tensed and shifted, waiting for the akuma to attack. Sabrina was surprised as Chloe slid along the bench and linked an arm around hers. Chloe didn’t even look at her, but the stony expression and the firm grip she placed on Sabrina’s wrist transferred a clear message; _she’ll have to get past me first._

Sabrina glanced up to see that Alya had done the same to Marinette, and the rest of the class was stonily fixated on the akuma, fists clenched and eyes narrowed. Even if it might be more for Marinette’s defence than her own, Sabrina was glad they were there. She saw Alix pull out her phone under the desk and start entering an akuma alert on her phone, and shifted closer to Chloe to block the phone from the akuma’s sight.

“Nice little group of superheroes you’ve got here, isn’t it?” the akuma directed at Miss Bustier.

“Leave, now,” Miss Bustier demanded, her knuckles white where she gripped the edge of her desk. “We’re not going to let you just waltz off with those two girls, so you’re wasting your time.”

“I would be,” the akuma said thoughtfully, “if it weren’t for the fact that I could just do… _this_ ,” she flicked her hand, and a beam of light shot from her ring out into the classroom, “and your loyal heroes, become _my_ loyal heroes. Quite a selection of candidates in here.” Another little beam flashed across the room.

The class looked around. Nothing seemed to have happened.

“Uh… did she miss?” Alix whispered. Sabrina felt her phone buzz in her pocket; the alert was out.

“Nathaniel, are you okay?” Rose asked. “I saw that second one hit you!”

“I feel normal,” Nathan frowned, picking at his arm. “It just stung a little bit.”

“Max, you good?” Kim asked.

Max frowned, poking at a spot on his leg where Sabrina supposed the beam must have hit. “I still possess normal mental capacity, yes.”

“Ha!” Alya snorted. “Moth Man’s shortchanged you, girl! Your little beams don’t do anything!”

“Let’s rush her!” Kim said eagerly. “We can just keep hold of her until Ladybug arrives!”

Kim, Alix, Ivan and Adrien were halfway out of their seats when Miss Bustier reached out to grab the akuma’s wrist. In a fraction of a second, Max was in the way, twisting the teacher’s arm back away from the akuma.

“H-how… what?” Max said, letting go of Miss Bustier’s arm.

“There’s my hero,” the akuma smiled.

Kim charged towards her, but Nathan leaped from the back of the room, swiping Kim effortlessly aside so that he crashed into the wall.

“Nath, what the hell?” Alix demanded as Kim lay slightly dazed against the wall.

“I didn’t do that!” Nathan insisted.

“Unlike other akumas, my followers are not mind-controlled into obedience,” the akuma said primly. “But they will protect me from anything, because they have such love and loyalty for me in their hearts that they will unconsciously lay their lives on the line to keep me safe.” She smiled. “With a little extra speed and strength added in, because _super_ heroes are always better than regular ones.” She raised her hand. “I’ll take a couple more, since you’re all so brave.” She stretched out her arm and two more beams struck Juleka and Mylene, who looked dismayed.

Sabrina heard the door click, and saw Nino yank it open behind the akuma. He was running away. Her heart clenched painfully. He had heard for himself that this akuma was after her personally, and he was still going to abandon her?

Nino looked at her, his face pained. He mouthed _Sorry_ as he snuck out of the door, Adrien following quickly after him.

The door clicked shut again and the akuma turned around, spotting the empty front seats. “Ah, not all so brave, I see,” she smiled as footsteps clattered away down the corridor. “I don’t have time for cowards, it’s the bravest citizens of Paris I’m after. Now, where were we?” She frowned, narrowing her eyes in thought. “Oh yes. Marinette and Sabrina. Time for us to go.”

She went for Marinette first, dragging the girl out of her seat. When Alya leaped over the desk to retaliate, Mylene and Juleka were suddenly there to pull Alya back before she could lay a finger on the akuma.

“Sorry, Alya!” Mylene squeaked. “I can’t help it!”

Ivan tried to pull Mylene’s arms away from Alya, but he couldn’t move them. “Your grip’s too strong!” he told her hopelessly. Kim, Alix, Rose and even Nathan joined in trying to free Alya, but they could not shift Mylene and Juleka- the super strength, it seemed, only worked in defence of the akuma.

In the meantime, Chloe was tensing up more and more against Sabrina as the akuma trailed menacingly towards them, dragging Marinette by the wrist after her. The akuma extended a delicate hand, the one with the ring, towards them. “Come along, Sabrina,” she shrilled impatiently. “I just want a little chat.”

Sabrina didn’t move. They had to stall until Ladybug and the heroes arrived. The alert had gone out a few minutes ago- where were they?

Chloe swiped at the outstretched hand, and almost lazily Max grabbed her wrist. As she tried with her other arm, unwrapping it from Sabrina’s, he grabbed that too. Chloe struggled to pull away, but Max kept an unwilling grip as the akuma stretched out her hand to Sabrina again. “Now,” the akuma said impatiently.

Sabrina thought wildly. She did not want to go anywhere with an akuma that had so personally focused on her, obviously. As she looked for an escape, she spotted Marinette gesturing at her urgently from behind the akuma. Marinette looked pointedly at the akuma’s hand, then back to Sabrina, lifting her own free hand, wiggling her ring finger and mouthing a word over and over.

Sabrina followed her gaze to the hand. The ring from which the little beams of light had come sparkled on the fourth finger, silver and studded with little blue teardrop gemstones.

The source of the little beams and maybe… the akumatised object? Ladybug wasn’t here, but if she could pull off the ring, the akuma wouldn’t have power any more and maybe the class could immobilise her until the heroes arrived.

Sabrina slowly extended her hand towards the akuma’s, then rapidly swiped for the ring, grasping it and dislodging it from the finger. The akuma’s eyes widened in surprise and panic.

Nathan was suddenly there, bending Sabrina’s fingers back fiercely as the akuma drew back, hurriedly securing the ring on her finger again.

“Good save, hero,” the akuma said, while Nathan’s eyes screamed apology as he released Sabrina’s fingers. Sabrina was flexing them to relieve the pain when the akuma grabbed her firmly by the wrist. “Enough!” she snapped. “You two are coming with me.” She dragged them forcefully over to the door.  

“It’ll be ok,” Marinette reassured Sabrina, even as they both struggled to escape the akuma’s hold. “Chat Noir and the other heroes will be here any moment.”

“Sooner than you think!” came a voice from the far end of the corridor.

Marinette twisted around with a wide smile. “Chat!”

Another figure stepped into view beside Chat. “Carapace!” Sabrina smiled, relieved. How had he got here so fast?

 The akuma growled. “It would be you two,” she muttered. “I should have guessed.”

“Well, I think it’s time you let these two lovely ladies go back to class.” The turtle hero looked at Chat. “What do you think, whiskers?”

“I agree, shelly.” Chat extended his baton. “This is quite the inter _fur_ ence to their learning. How about you leave these girls alone and have a little _chat_ with us instead?”

“No can do, boys,” the akuma said. “Oh, heroes?”

Juleka crashed out of the classroom, followed by Max and Mylene. Chloe was screaming in the classroom, and Nathan appeared at the door, holding the blonde back.

“These gentlemen are trying to steal my ring!” the akuma simpered. “You won’t let that happen, will you?”

“I guess not,” Max grumbled. “We don’t have much choice, do we?”

“That’s the spirit,” the akuma smiled. “Oh, and don’t forget to grab the kitty cat’s ring for me if you can.” With that, she turned away to drag Sabrina and Marinette along the corridor. Behind them, Chat and Carapace charged down the corridor, quickly intercepted by the akuma’s unwilling heroes. Looking back, Sabrina saw Nathan emerge to join the fray, and Chloe and Alya darted out of the classroom. Then the akuma pulled her around a corner and she couldn’t see where they went.

Marinette was still trying to pry the akuma’s hand away from her wrist, but Sabrina had already established that the akuma’s grip was like iron. She settled for going limp, making herself a dead weight that the akuma had to drag along. Despite this, the akuma continued pulling them, through several doors and up a couple of flights of stairs, until they were on the roof of the school, where she forced them to sit precariously over the drop to the courtyard below.

Then it seemed like they were in for a wait. The akuma took a few potshots with her ring at people loitering around the school, but it seemed like she missed each time, because she would only scowl and hiss crossly under her breath as people shouted below.

Glancing at Marinette, who was playing with the clasp on her little bag, Sabrina took her phone out of her pocket. Her finger hovered over the speed dial for her father. But what could he even do to help her? Instead, she opened the Ladyblog.

The only hero and akuma sightings were in the school. The first Rena Rouge and Queen Bee sightings had just popped up, also in the school. Alya might just be right that the heroes were students.

Sabrina wondered if that meant Carapace was a student here. She might have passed him in the hallway, sat across from him in the library without even knowing.

She shook her head, mildly amused by the thought despite her current situation. She’d have recognised him for sure.

“What are you smiling at?” the akuma snapped, stalking over after missing another bystander.

Sabrina shook her head again. “Nothing. Sorry.”

“Give me that,” the akuma snarled, snatching Sabrina’s phone and then eyeing Marinette suspiciously. “Do you have a phone?”

“Well, obviously,” Marinette said sarcastically. “Not with me, though.”

Sabrina stared at Marinette. Did she not realise the akuma had put them on the edge of the roof with the inherent threat of pushing them off? But Marinette seemed unperturbed.

“Don’t play smart with me!” the akuma growled. “I brought you here to have a civil conversation.”

“And that’s why you forcefully dragged us out of our classroom and confiscated Sabrina’s phone,” Marinette commented drily. “And why you’re now, apparently, threatening to push us off the roof.”

“Shut _up!”_ Far from being intimidating, the akuma suddenly seemed ridiculous, stamping her bare feet like a child having a tantrum. “I’m in charge here, not you!”

“So what did you want to talk about?” Marinette yawned pointedly, winking at Sabrina and making a little ‘play along’ gesture. _Ah, she’s stalling._ “I want to go back to class.”

“You’re not going anywhere unless I say so.”

“Well, yeah. She never said she was going _now_.” Sabrina rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I didn’t say anything like that!” Marinette said indignantly.

“Stop it!” The akuma crossed her arms. “Anyway, you _know_ what I want to talk about.”

“Um…” Marinette looked quizzically at Sabrina. “I don’t think I do. Do you know, Sabrina?”

Sabrina looked thoughtful. “Oh, maybe she wants to talk about fashion! Do you want us to critique your costume? Because I’d agree with Chloe. I give it, like, a 2 for colour choice. _Way_ too much blue.”

“Yeah, and diamond pattern is never in fashion.” Marinette caught Sabrina’s glare. “Sorry, Sabrina, but it’s true. The teardrops, though, they’re very in. At least Hawk Moth got something right.”

Before the akuma could formulate a response, the butterfly mask appeared over her face. The pause while Hawk Moth spoke with her gave time for Rena Rouge and Queen Bee to arrive on the roof.

“The akuma’s in the ring,” Marinette said immediately. “And it fires little beams that make people fling themselves into harm’s way to protect her. Chat Noir and Carapace are being held up by some of her minions downstairs.”

“Thanks, Marinette,” Rena said, drawing her flute, while Queen Bee just gave her a grudging nod. “We’ll get you and Sabrina out of the way as soon as-”

Carapace burst through the door, with Mylene hanging off his leg. “Rainie, are you ok?”

“She’s fine, idiot,” Queen Bee rolled her eyes. “Where’s the cat? And more importantly, where’s Ladybug?”

Rena frowned, looking down at the screen on her flute. “She’s not responding.”

Marinette laughed, sounding a little nervous. “Do you, er, think you could get us away from her now?”

“At your service, princess!” Chat declared, staggering up behind Carapace with Max clinging to his shoulders. Sabrina shot Marinette a smug look, and Marinette returned with a sidelong glare.

“You’re not going anywhere!” the akuma bellowed without warning. “How dare you say those things! My costume is a work of art!”

“No, honey, it really isn’t,” Rena said sympathetically. “Hawkie really shortchanged you.”

Queen Bee smirked. “Yeah. I hope your name is at least a good one. Or else you’ll be almost on the same level as Bubbler.”

“Bubbler wasn’t that bad,” Carapace said in a small voice, but nobody acknowledged him.

The akuma flipped her hair back dramatically, or attempted to; one long pigtail swung around the back of her neck and hit her in the face, a few hairs sticking to her lipstick. She ignored this, shaking her hair out again. “My name,” she said imperiously, drawing herself up, “is Princess Rainy!”

“ _Tremble before me,”_ Max whispered sarcastically, and Mylene snorted.

Queen Bee and Rena Rouge looked at each other in confusion. “She looks nothing like a weather akuma!” Queen Bee complained.

“She’s not,” Carapace said flatly, and Chat echoed him a second later.

Sabrina frowned, but Marinette’s waving again caught her attention. Marinette started pointing wildly, first from Chat to herself, then Carapace to Sabrina. Rena Rouge also appeared to spot the movement and watched with narrowed eyes, before her face dawned with comprehension and she pulled Queen Bee closer to whisper in her ear. Sabrina narrowed her eyes. Princess Rainy…

Princess… Rainie.

“Oh no,” Sabrina muttered, before the akuma jumped to land neatly between her and Marinette on the roof.

“Why would you spend all your time saving these two,” the akuma chirruped, her cold fingers ruffling Sabrina’s hair aggressively, “when you could have me?” She tossed her head. “You should be _my_ knights in shining armour instead.”

“Just let them go,” Chat said slowly. “They haven’t done anything to you.”

“But they have,” Princess Rainy objected. “They’ve somehow managed to gain your attention, despite the fact that they’re so inferior to me!” She gritted her teeth. “I should be the one with a superhero boyfriend saving me from trouble all the time.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Marinette and Sabrina protested simultaneously.

Princess Rainy just smiled. “See? They don’t even want you swooping in to save them!”

_Actually, that would be nice right now._

“Ok, we’ll save you,” Chat said cheerily. “Just toss that ring over here, and we’ll get right on that.”

“Nice try,” Princess Rainy drawled. “Trade me _your_ ring and we might have a deal.”

Chat scratched the back of his head. “Ahh, it’s a bit early to be thinking about exchanging rings, I’m afraid. We only just met!”

Marinette had been shuffling away from the drop, making eye contact with Rena as she did so. The fox heroine nodded to her slowly, and as soon as Marinette was a good distance away, Rena sprinted over to snatch her away from the akuma.

“Oh no you don’t!” Princess Rainy snarled, spinning around, and a beam from her ring struck Rena just above the waist as she hopped in front of Marinette. Marinette didn’t look back, just ran for the door back into the school, escaping as more beams flew around her.

“Rena, just get as far away from here as you can,” Chat ordered, and Rena, her ears drooping a little, reluctantly nodded. She leaped from the building, and the others watched her dart away from roof to roof.

“She’ll be back,” Princess Rainy said smugly, walking over to Sabrina. She stood behind her with her hands on Sabrina’s shoulders, starting to play with her ginger hair again. “And so what if the cat’s princess got away? I still have your Rainy, turtle boy.”

“What are you going to do with her?” Carapace asked, his eyes flitting desperately from the akuma to Sabrina. Queen Bee had her communicator out and was irritably tapping it with her thumb, while Chat was tense beside Carapace, the tip of his tail flicking nervously.

“Why do you care?” Sabrina felt Princess Rainy’s fingers push her chin up as the akuma grasped her head, and her other arm gripped her shoulder even tighter. “She’s just a civilian. What has she done to make herself worthy of you?”

Despite the fear starting to pulse through her body, Sabrina waited for Carapace’s answer. His amber eyes narrowed behind his mask. “Why would I tell you?” he said carefully.

Princess Rainy yanked Sabrina to her feet, clamping one forearm across Sabrina’s neck and the other around her waist. “Because if you don’t, I’ll step backwards.” She lifted one foot teasingly, and Sabrina instantly felt unbalanced, as Princess Rainy’s weight dragged her back towards the edge of the roof. “My minions will get there fast enough to save me if I fall, but would you be quick enough to save her?”

“Stop!” Carapace yelled, his voice cracking a little. “OK. What do you want?”

“You’re going to tell me exactly what’s so special about our friend here,” Princess Rainy breathed, pausing as the butterfly mask appeared briefly. “Oh, yes, and you’re going to convince your cat friend and the bug, whenever she turns up, to hand over their Miraculouses to me.”

“I don’t think so!” a voice called from behind them, and Sabrina felt a rush of relief. Ladybug sauntered into view, twirling her yoyo.

“There you are!” Princess Rainy said. “You heard me, then. Hand over your Miraculous.”

“How many minions has she got?” Ladybug asked Chat, completely ignoring the akuma.

“Technically, 5, but two are indisposed downstairs.” Chat smirked. “We had some helpers sit on them. I don’t think they’ll be joining us anytime soon.”

“And Rena says she’s out of the city and still going,” Queen Bee pitched in. “So just these two to worry about.”

“Excellent. Max, Mylene, will you stand over there, please?”

“Hey-” Princess Rainy began crossly, but Ladybug had already slung her yoyo into the air, calling for Lucky Charm. A length of strong twine fell into her hand.

“Oh, good, I like it when the plans are simple,” Queen Bee muttered.

“I know you do, Bee. Give me a hand, will you?”

“Stop ignoring me!” Princess Rainy screeched, tightening her grip on Sabrina. “I’ll step backwards! I will! Don’t make me do it!”

“But… who’s going to cushion your fall now?” Chat asked with a grin. Princess Rainy’s face dropped. Ladybug and Queen Bee stepped back. Max and Mylene were now tied back to back, smirking at the akuma.

“We’d like to, we would,” Max smiled. “But our hands are a little tied.”

Princess Rainy narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t over.”

“Oh please, give it up,” Queen Bee said, rolling her eyes. “Your plan was as ridiculous as your costume. Just accept your loss and give us the ring. Who’s going to stop us taking it?”

Princess Rainy glanced at the ring, then laughed. Sabrina felt an ominous fog sinking over her as the akuma loosened her grip. “Oh, really? _I’ve lost? Who’s going to cushion my fall?_ ” she sneered. “ ** _She is_** _.”_

Sabrina felt a stinging pain in her shoulder as Princess Rainy let her go. She barely had chance to stumble forward before Ladybug and Queen Bee lunged past her. Queen Bee screamed ‘ _Swarm!”_ as Sabrina felt her feet start to carry her rapidly towards the door. Carapace shouted something she couldn’t hear, and then she hit something.

Ramming into the object over and over like a fly against a window, Sabrina had no control of her body to turn around and see what was going on. She was colliding again and again with a green, transparent surface… and then, suddenly, she stopped.

“Rainie,” Carapace called. “Rainie, snap out of it. It’s ok, you’re safe now.”

Sabrina turned. Carapace was standing a short distance away with his shield raised over his head; from that shield, a transparent green wall of energy was gently pulsing, trapping them in a defensive forcefield. Without thinking,  she ran over to him, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him, before burying her face in his shoulder. "You saved me," she sobbed. "I thought... I thought..."

Carapace hugged her back, soothing her as she sobbed. “It's ok, they’ve got her,” he said, and Sabrina looked out of the dome. Outside, a group... or Sabrina supposed,  _swarm_ of Queen Bee copies lifted the flailing akuma onto the roof and threw her at Chat’s feet.

Princess Rainy struggled to her feet, shrieking in desperate fury as Chat snatched her hand and yanked the ring off her finger; immediately Sabrina felt her muscles relax. Crushing the ring under his foot, Chat caught Princess Rainy as she slumped over. “My lady, catch!” he yelled, and Ladybug’s yoyo flew into the air to snag the butterfly. Chat laid the unresponsive akuma down on the roof, then strolled over to Carapace, who lowered his shield. Queen Bee headed over to untie Max and Mylene, before tossing the rope to Ladybug.

“Well, shelly, it’s supposed to be your turn,” Chat said, as Princess Rainy transformed back into a normal girl, her shoulder length brown hair ending in blonde tips. Sabrina recognised her, as she glanced up sullenly, as the girl who had shot her the dark look while out shopping the day before. “But I don’t think that’s a good idea this time. Maybe you should take this one, my lady? I don’t think shelly or I would handle this one well.”

“Well, I’m about to de-transform, and so is Bee,” Ladybug said. “Rena’s on her way back now; she’s the only one who hasn’t used her power. So I suppose you can trade with her, turtle boy.”

Sabrina kept quiet, even though Max and Mylene were shooting her confused looks. She'd kissed Carapace again, even after what she'd said to Nino this morning. What if Nino found out?  Shortly after, Rena leaped back onto the roof, and Ladybug talked her through the situation. Rena nodded, and sauntered over to the girl, helping her to her feet. The girl glared over her shoulder as Rena escorted her away, her gaze fixed on Carapace and Chat.

“I think you two might have lost a fan today,” Queen Bee commented, walking over and passing Sabrina her confiscated phone. “Anyway, I’m going to go. I have places to be.”

“Don’t you mean places to _bee?_ ”

“Shut up, cat.” Queen Bee flew off, rolling her eyes.

“Well, I’m going to check Marinette’s ok,” Chat said. “I have time.”

Ladybug’s earrings beeped, and she laughed nervously. “Heh. Well, I…I’d better go too. Bug out.” With a sling of her yoyo, she was gone.

Chat affectionately watched her go. “You should probably take Sabrina home or something, shelly.”

“I know that, whiskers. I’m going.”

“Um,” Sabrina said awkwardly as Carapace took hold of her. “There are stairs. I can get down myself. And I'm sure my dad is waiting for me.”

“Oh.” Carapace let her go. “Ok. Guess I’ll come with you then, whiskers. Check Marinette’s doing all right.”

The two heroes vaulted away, and Sabrina hurried down the stairs to the ground level, stopping to grab her bag from the empty classroom on her way out of the school.

“ _Sabrina!_ ” Sabrina had only just reached the bottom of the steps when her father’s arms engulfed her in a hug; she could feel him shaking as he clasped her tightly to him. “I was so worried,” he murmured. “Why didn’t you _call me?”_

Sabrina struggled free of his arms. “What could you have done?” she objected. “I didn’t want you to get hurt trying to save me.”

Roger held her at arm’s length, his eyes full of concern. “You’re not hurt?”

“Carapace kept me safe,” Sabrina protested. “I’m _fine.”_

Roger met her gaze sternly, his green eyes hardening. “It was his fault you were targeted at all!”

“Dad, you can’t blame-” Sabrina began, but Roger’s eyes suddenly fixed on a point behind her and he brushed her aside. He began to stalk towards Carapace, who was standing with Chat and Marinette a short distance away. Sabrina hurried after him, catching his hand and trying in vain to pull him off course. “Dad, it wasn’t his fault, stop!”

Carapace turned around and paled a little as Roger loomed over him, Sabrina hanging off his arm ineffectively. “Lieutenant Raincomprix,” he greeted the officer nervously as Chat and Marinette exchanged concerned looks.

Sabrina wedged herself into the gap between her father and Carapace, but since both were significantly taller than her, she didn’t form much of a block for her father’s furious gaze. “Dad, leave him alone,” she said crossly. “Carapace has kept me safe every time I’ve been caught in an attack since I met him.”

“Yeah, Shelly really looks out for her,” Chat piped up, shrinking back a little as Roger glared at him.

“Thank you, Chat Noir, but this doesn’t concern you.” Roger turned his gaze back on Carapace, his gaze flickering with anger.

“But-” Chat hesitated, looking uncertainly at Carapace.

“It’s ok, bro,” Carapace said with a fake smile. “Maybe you should escort Marinette home?”

“Yeah… come on, princess, I’ll take you home,” Chat said quickly. Marinette shot Sabrina a sympathetic look as Chat picked her up, and the cat hero leaped away across the rooftops.

Roger pushed Sabrina gently out of the way and met Carapace’s eyes with his arms crossed. “I appreciate your saving my daughter in the past, but today she was put in great danger because of you,” he said simply. “I’ll only warn you once- I want you to stay away from Sabrina from now on.”

“Dad, you can’t-” Sabrina began, but Roger rounded on her, his expression fierce.

“And as for you, young lady, from now on you’ll contact _me_ at the first sign of any trouble so _I_ can come and fetch you, like I’ve told you countless times before.” He straightened up, meeting her defiant gaze as if reading her thoughts. He crossed his arms. “And tomorrow I’ll be fitting a safety lock on your window.”

“That’s not fair!” Sabrina protested. “Carapace is my friend, you can’t just-”

“I can and I will,” Roger said flatly.

“You _can’t_ stop me from seeing my friend!” Sabrina insisted, feeling tears stinging at her eyes. She raised her voice, her tone becoming shrill at the unfairness of the new rules. “I’ll still see him, you can’t stop me!” She crossed her arms and glared at him.

Roger was ominously quiet for a moment. Then he spoke again, his voice low. “And who exactly do you think you’re talking to, Sabrina Raincomprix?”

His tone was cold with anger, the voice he reserved for when she’d done something really bad. It made her flinch, but where she would previously have overflowed with apologies, now she stood firm, staring him down, aware of Carapace watching in horror. “You can’t stop me,” she repeated.

Roger watched her for another few moments, then scowled. “That’s it. You’re grounded until further notice.” Before Sabrina could argue, he turned towards Carapace. “And I’d better not catch you near my daughter ever again.”

Carapace looked hurt, but after a last dejected look at Sabrina he nodded his head respectfully and leaped away. Sabrina almost called out after him, but her voice came out as a whimper. For the first time she noticed the crowd standing around, taking pictures or watching with something between sympathy and outrage. She tried desperately to hold back her tears as her father’s colleagues began to disperse the onlookers.

“This is for your own good,” Roger said when they stood alone in the road, his arms still folded as Sabrina bowed her head and clenched her fists, badly concealing a sob as the tears started to escape.  “Get in the car,” he sighed. “When we get home you can go to your room and have a good think about your attitude today.”

Sabrina looked up at him as he walked away, her eyes shining with tears. She drew a shaky breath, before shaking her head and beginning to follow him.

 

At home, she curled up on her bed, wrapping her arms around her knees, and continued to sob. Her phone suddenly buzzed. _Nino._ He was trying to call her.

 _He probably heard about the kiss._ Sabrina let the call ring out, staring dully ahead. She couldn’t take another argument, this time with her boyfriend. Was he still her boyfriend? She imagined his accusatory tone. _What’s really going on with you and Carapace? Have you been seeing him behind my back?_

When the buzzing started afresh, she switched off her phone and turned off the lights. She’d have to face Nino tomorrow.

 

Carapace perched himself on a chimney top, worry weighing heavily on him. Sabrina hadn’t picked up any of his calls; after the first attempt they had gone straight to voicemail. From his perch he could see her bedroom window across the street; it was slightly ajar but the curtains were drawn across it and the house was dark.

He considered going to knock on her window, but he knew she’d get in a lot of trouble if her father caught him again. He had just stood up to reluctantly move on with his patrol when he heard a faint sound, familiar and very unwelcome.

A black and purple butterfly came fluttering out of the darkened sky, heading for the street below. Immediately Carapace pulled his shield from his back, turning his attention to the communication device in the handle while keeping an eye on the butterfly. It flitted down towards Sabrina’s house, hovering in front of the door for a moment before exploring around the windows.

Carapace finished sending out his message to his teammates and leaped down to the street. By now the akuma had found Sabrina’s open window; Carapace jumped at the sill and slapped his hand down on the insect, but he only caught the edge of its wing; the butterfly struggled free and disappeared through the gap in the window, crawling under the curtains into the quiet bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah Princess Rainy is based on someone I don't like very much
> 
> next chapter is the last one, probably, unless it gets super long in which case it'll get split into two


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed my mind, I'm splitting the conclusion into multiple chapters.
> 
> Enjoy :)

With some difficulty, Carapace forced Sabrina’s window open and yanked the curtains aside, letting moonlight into the dark room. Sabrina sat up in her bed, blinking and squinting at the shadow. “Dad?”

“No, it’s me,” Carapace hissed.

“Nino?” she asked in confusion.

“No,” Carapace said quickly. “It’s _me_ , Rainie.” He scanned the room furiously, but he couldn’t see the akuma anywhere. Sabrina snatched her glasses off her nightstand and pushed them onto her nose.

“Oh, Carapace,” she said. “What are you doing here? You heard what my dad said, I can’t see you anymore!”

“I saw an akuma butterfly come in through your window,” Carapace whispered. “I thought it was here for you. I had to try to stop it.”

“No need, son,” a voice said from a corner of the room. Carapace looked over and spotted eyes glinting in the dark; Sabrina flicked her lamp on to reveal her father sitting in the corner. Roger fixed Carapace with a fierce gaze. “I thought you might sneak in tonight, though I suppose I can forgive you if you were chasing an akuma. Even if it was your fault it came here in the first place.”

“Where is it?” Sabrina said, frantically looking around the room. Roger stood up.

“I trapped it,” Roger said. “It was here for you, carrot cake, but I caught it in there.” He nodded towards a mug sitting upturned in the middle of the floor, which was giving off faint fluttering noises. “It was crawling on the floor so I dropped the mug over it.” He looked at Carapace. “Have you called Ladybug?”

“Yes, sir,” Carapace said. He was thinking hard. He couldn’t remember anyone trapping an akuma before. He had stretched his hand out towards the mug when Roger barked,

“Leave that alone! Do you _want_ Sabrina to be akumatised?”

“Of course not, sir,” Carapace said. The tense silence in the room was incredibly weighty, cut only by the faint struggles of the akuma.

“Maybe you should go and wait outside for your teammates,” Roger observed coldly. “Let me look after my daughter, for once.”

“O…of course,” Carapace agreed, quickly leaving through the window. He had a nasty feeling in his gut, but he couldn’t figure out why. He should be happy, excited, that someone had figured out a way to trap akumas before they reached their victims.

So why did the way Roger’s eyes glittered at him as he climbed out of the window set him on edge?

 

Carapace settled on the roof across the street and watched the house apprehensively for the next few minutes, but nothing happened. Soon, he heard the shing of a yoyo string behind him and footsteps hitting the roof tiles and turned around; Ladybug and Chat had arrived.

“What’s going on?” Ladybug asked.

“Lieutenant Roger says he has an akuma butterfly trapped in that room,” Carapace stated, nodding towards the open room. “And that it was going for Rainie, so he dropped a mug over it.”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever trapped an akuma before!” Chat sounded surprised.

“Exactly,” Carapace grumbled. “Something isn’t right here.”

“Well, all we can do is go in,” Ladybug pointed out. “Either way, there’s an akuma in there somewhere. But I agree with Carapace. I’m sceptical that an akuma could be trapped so easily. Be on your guard, both of you.”

 

Carapace led the way back through the window. Sabrina was out of bed, wrapped in her dressing gown, and she and her father were standing near the door, staring at the mug. Ladybug studied both of them carefully, her yoyo held at the ready.

“So the akuma is trapped under here?” she asked, nodding at the mug.

“Yes, Ladybug.” Roger pulled Sabrina closer to him, away from the offending object. “I didn’t think it would work, but I had to try something, and it seems to have kept the akuma contained.”

“This just in: Hawk Moth Foiled By Mug,” Chat stated in a news-reporter voice, cracking a grin.

Carapace kept silent. Sabrina was looking at him with a pained expression, and Roger’s eyes were fixed on Ladybug. One of his hands was planted on Sabrina’s shoulder, the other hung at his side in a fist. Both of them looked totally normal, and yet Carapace still felt an unpleasant atmosphere in the room. Ladybug also seemed suspicious, squinting in the dim light, but eventually she shook her head.

“Thank you for your vigilance, sir,” Ladybug stated, approaching the mug. “We’ll deal with this akuma now and get out of your way.”

Roger nodded, and pulled Sabrina back. “We’ll stay out of your way in here,” he told the spotted heroine, wrapping one arm around his daughter’s shoulders and opening the door. His other hand, Carapace saw now, was clutching another mug. “Thanks for getting here so fast.”

“No problem,” Chat grinned. “Quick-thinking people like you make our job so much easier.”

Roger led Sabrina out of the bedroom, and Chat closed the door after them. His eyes now adjusted to the the dim light of the lamp, Carapace could see pieces of paper strewn around the seat where Roger had been sitting, most of them covered with a child’s drawings. Carapace picked one up as Ladybug advanced on the upturned blue mug on the floor, which was still making scratching noises as the butterfly tried to escape.

The drawing was Sabrina’s, if the large scribbled name in the corner was anything to go by. It was a messy rendering of her father in his police uniform, with ‘ _My daddy is a superhero!’_ scrawled underneath in purple crayon. Carapace smiled, looking over the rest of the paper and seeing a similar theme, some also with a little Sabrina drawn next to her father.

Ladybug picked up the mug, her yoyo at the ready, and the large brown moth that had been trapped beneath it fluttered into the air to circle the lamp madly.

“Well, that is not an akuma,” Chat observed.

“I know I saw it come in here!” Carapace insisted. The ominous feeling returned with a vengeance as he abruptly heard Sabrina’s voice in the hallway, her tone confused.

“Wait, Dad, isn’t that the mug you had the akuma under? I just saw it in my bedroom.”

Right then, the mug crumbled in Ladybug’s hand, disintegrating into sparkling dust. The fluttering moth vanished in a puff of the same dust.

The superheroes stared at each other as the realisation hit too late. “Dad, let go, what are you doing?” Sabrina cried out, and then there was a loud destructive crash and she screamed.

Carapace burst into the hallway. Roger and Sabrina were gone, and there was a gaping hole in the wall leading out onto the street. Running to look outside, Carapace scanned the skyline wildly, but there was no sign of either of them.

“Come on!” Ladybug urged, shoving past him and tossing her yoyo out. “We need to round up Rena and Bee and find them, quickly! They can’t have got far!”

She and Chat sprang away into the city, and Carapace opened his communicator, beginning to send out the alert to Rena Rouge and Queen Bee. As the call rang out, he looked around the remains of the hallway for any clues about what powers they were dealing with.

He spotted a tuft of thick red fur caught at the edge of the hole. Puzzled, he stepped forwards for a closer look, only to feel something underfoot.

Looking down, he saw four truly enormous claw marks gouged into the wooden floor.

 

Sabrina clung to the long ginger fur beneath her hands as she was carried along the deserted streets. The huge beast that had been her father was far bigger than a bear, growling to himself as he loped along. Tall white horns protruded from the crown of his head, and Sabrina struggled forwards to grab one. She could hear the scrape of enormous claws on the stones, and had no desire to fall beneath them.

The mug containing the akuma was gripped in the beast’s mouth; she could hear it clunking gently against his large teeth. As soon as she had mentioned the mug, her father had snatched her from the ground, tossed her over his shoulder and charged at the wall. A haze of glittering dust had temporarily blinded her as they smashed through the wall. Then she’d found herself astride the monster, its paws thudding against the ground as it raced away from the house.

Her phone was back home on her bedside table, so she had no idea if the akuma alert was out yet. Instead, she scanned the sky, waiting for the heroes.

The monster seemed to be doing the same, his ears pricked and green eyes regularly glancing upwards. Then he suddenly slowed to a stop, glancing around once more before sneaking into a small alley, fur brushing both walls as he slunk along. At the end of the alley, he dug his claws into the wall and pulled himself up, seeming to shrink in size as he scaled the wall. By the time they reached the roof, he was only the size of a large lion, able to hide in the shadows on the rooftops. The low growl in his throat had stopped.

As he crept towards the edge of the roof, sniffing the air, Sabrina got the sudden feeling that her father was hunting something.

Then, from close by, she heard Carapace call her name.

 

Carapace ran across the rooftops, looking and listening for Sabrina. Rena Rouge and Queen Bee were out searching as well, now, scouring the city for the Raincomprixes. They’d been warned not to approach Roger if they saw him, and to call for the others if they saw any sign of either father or daughter. But so far, nothing.

Frustrated, he jumped back down to the street. Hearing a strange rustling, he paused, looking around. It seemed to be coming from the next street over. He was about to leap over to the roof to check on it when it abruptly stopped.

Then there was a soft scraping sound. Carapace crossed the street towards the noise. “Sabrina?” he called, and the noise stopped briefly, then started up again.

This time, he followed the sound, ending up at the entrance to a shadowy alley. Stepping into the dark, he listened hard. There was no longer any scratching or rustling, only a curious dripping sound coming from further along the alley.

Nervously, he proceeded along the alley, slipping his shield onto his arm and holding it ready, just in case. Eventually, he reached the end. There was only a wall; the alley was a dead end, and there was nothing there. He breathed a sigh of relief.

_drip_

A spatter of fluid slapped onto the dirty ground beside him, and he jumped, then snorted. Just a leaky gutter, he told himself.  Or rainwater.

Then more liquid drooled onto his shoulder. Warm and sticky, it clung to his suit; this was no rainwater. His skin started to crawl as he felt the danger in the air far, far too late.

A low growling started up above him. Claws scraped on brick, and he slowly, fearfully, looked up.

The enormous white claws were the first thing he saw, embedded in the brick as the huge creature clambered down towards him. Then the gleaming green eyes, fixed on him, full of inhuman fury. Finally, the teeth, bared in a savage grin with strings of saliva dangling between them.

Then the creature pounced, and the full force of the akuma was on top of him before he could even cry out or raise his shield.

One huge paw thudded down on his chest, winding him, and Carapace screwed his eyes shut as the huge claws threatened to pierce even his tough suit. Hot breath washed over him as the monster that was Roger roared in his face.

Where was Sabrina? Had Roger hidden her somewhere?

He had little time to worry about her, as the monster picked him up and shook him, releasing him to let him go sailing through the air. He landed hard on the ground, only to quickly be grabbed again, teeth gripping his leg. He could feel his suit straining to protect him, and he mentally promised Wayzz an extra head of lettuce if only his limbs stayed intact.

The monster kept shaking its head, as if being bothered by a fly, but it continued its assault, dragging him backwards along the alley by the leg before smacking him against a wall. A swipe of a huge front paw sent him tumbling along the main street like a ragdoll.

Still winded, he struggled to recover as he heard the paws pounding towards him again, an excited growl accompanying the monster’s approach. Pulling his shield close, he whispered “Guardian,” and saw his forcefield rise, just in time for the beast to collide with it. It wouldn’t last long, though, so he clicked open his communicator and marked an alert on his location, then called Ladybug.

“I found it,” he wheezed to her, ignoring her frantic flurry of questions. “It’s a big one. Bring the others. I’ve got my shield up for now, but I can’t take this guy much longer.”

After disconnecting the call, he slowly rose to his feet, gasping in huge lungfuls of air. The monster was pacing around outside his shield, eyes fixed on him and short tail flicking sharply. It was still shaking its head oddly.

Carapace took the opportunity to look for the akumatised object, but he couldn’t see it. The fur was oddly ruffled around the back of its neck, though, so he supposed something could be concealed there.

Too soon, his shield started to flicker and die, and the monster closed in. It snarled as it advanced, still irritably tossing its head. As the shield fell entirely, it pounced forwards again.

Carapace backed away, still too battered to attempt an escape or counterattack. He weakly dodged a couple of swipes, but when the monster lunged, he was too slow to avoid it. He was headbutted to the ground, narrowly missed by a sharp horn, and a large paw pinned him to the pavement, pressing down and forcing the air from his lungs.

Oddly, the monster seemed a lot smaller now, only about bear-sized as opposed to the size of an elephant, but Carapace wondered if it was only his eyes tricking him. He looked up at the sky. Where were the others?

The butterfly mask suddenly appeared over the monster’s face, and it growled crossly, its ears back. Then, as the mask burned once more before fading, its eyes changed, becoming intent and focused, almost gleeful. The claws shifted. There was a pause. Then he felt sharp teeth gently but firmly clamp around his bracelet and start to pry it off.

Struggling anew, he splayed his fingers as the band pressed into his palm, trying to delay its removal, but the force the monster was using dragged it on anyway. It caught on his thumb, but the force quickly folded the digit out of the way.

The akuma growled in satisfaction as the band slid under Carapace’s fingers, and Carapace pressed his fingertips to the floor in a last desperate attempt to keep the bracelet, seeing green glimmers at the edge of his vision as his mask started to disappear.

Then, suddenly, everything stopped. The monster gave a muffled growl of warning, and a voice responded.

“No, Dad. _You_ let go.”

Carapace looked up. Sabrina was standing over him, her arm up to its elbow in the monster’s jaws, the pale skin just millimetres from the sharp teeth. Her fingers were wrapped firmly around something blue in the akuma’s mouth. She didn’t look at Carapace. “Let him up, Dad. Now. Or I’ll smash the mug against your teeth.”

The beast began to growl again, but Sabrina was unfazed. “You’re being ridiculous,” she scolded, as if the hulking monster akuma was a misbehaving pet. “I know you’re trying to protect me, but this is too far.”

The butterfly mask glowed over the monster’s face again, and reluctantly, slowly, like a dog relinquishing a treat, he drew back, releasing his grip on Carapace’s Miraculous. His claws flexed and retracted, before his paw finally lifted from Carapace’s chest.  Even before refilling his lungs, Carapace shoved his bracelet back onto his wrist, relieved as the edge of his mask returned to normal. Then he gasped in breath after breath, focusing his vision on Sabrina.

The akuma settled, shrinking in size once more. It crouched next to Sabrina, still watching Carapace with barely veiled hostility.

“Good,” Sabrina said. “Now, I’m going to take my hand away, slowly…”

She had just pulled her fingers clear when Queen Bee landed hard on the akuma’s back; the monster immediately reared up, roaring furiously and doubling in size within seconds. “That’s for waking me up!” Queen Bee snapped.

The akuma twisted and rolled and snarled, trying to shake her off, and the other heroes began to arrive. Sabrina dragged Carapace to his feet. “Are you ok?” she asked.

“Where did… you come from?” Carapace asked, still recovering his breath.

“I was sitting on his back the whole time!” Sabrina said in confusion. “Didn’t you see me? I was screaming and pulling his ears to try and stop him attacking you.”

“I couldn’t see you,” Carapace asserted.

Sabrina huffed. “Probably part of his powers or something. Something _else_ to 'keep me safe'.”

Carapace looked over at the monster. Ladybug and Queen Bee were dodging blows while Rena and Chat looked on, deep in discussion. Carapace pulled out his communicator and fired off a message to Rena. _The item’s in his mouth._ He watched Rena receive it, then shoot him a thumbs-up.

Carapace took hold of Sabrina’s hand. “Come on, I need to get you out of here.” His bracelet beeped, and he glanced at it. 3 segments left. “Quickly.”

The monster suddenly spun around, fixating on Carapace again. Swatting Queen Bee out of the air with his huge paw, he thundered towards them. Carapace jumped aside, pulling Sabrina with him, but she pulled away. “You’ll have to leave me here,” she said. “He’ll only chase us if you try to take me out of here.”

Carapace jumped up to the rooftop with her. “I can’t just leave you with that thing!”

“That thing is my father!” Sabrina pulled away. “He wouldn’t hurt me.”

Carapace received a message. From Ladybug.   _Get Sabrina out of the way. Rena will distract him._

As his bracelet beeped again, Carapace gritted his teeth. “Sabrina, I know what I’m doing. Let’s go.” He tried to snatch her hand again, glancing down. Below them, the monster was tensing itself to spring. As it did, he picked her up and leapt to the next roof. The monster roared crossly, before coming after them again.

Flute music floated over the dark street. _“Mirage!”_ Rena called, and swung her flute.

In a flash of light, several illusions appeared around Carapace, all copies of himself carrying Sabrina. As he leaped, they did too, spreading in different directions as the monster crashed onto the roof where they had just been standing. The akuma growled crossly, swinging its head around before picking a target and diving after it; thankfully, it had selected one of the decoys.

“We have to go before the Mirage wears off,” Carapace said.

“But you need me to be here!” Sabrina protested. “I’m the only one who can calm him down.”

“It’s not safe,” Carapace said firmly.

“Ugh, you sound just like him!” Sabrina folded her arms.

Carapace sighed, but didn’t reply. Instead he checked on the akuma, glancing backwards. To his alarm, he saw it storming towards them again. It swiped crossly at an illusion running alongside it, dissipating it into smoke.

Panicked, Carapace dived out of the way, jumping down into a small alley as the monster swiped at him. Hurrying into the densest area of shadow, he closed his eyes, pressing himself against the wall. A final beep came from his wrist.

He heard scraping on the roof above, but thankfully, the monster didn’t follow them. Its claws scraped and it growled as it launched itself off in a different direction.

Sabrina started to struggle, and he let her go as she fought her way out of his arms. She stood up, hands on her hips, glaring at him. “What is everyone’s obsession with protecting me?” she demanded. “First Dad, and now you! Dad's always been overprotective, but you’ve got no reason to be. He was throwing you around like a toy, and you’re still worrying about me! I want to know why. Tell me, right now.”

Carapace didn’t answer. He just shrugged. “I’m sorry, Rainie. Ladybug just told me to get you out of there.”

 This only seemed to enrage her further. “Oh, of course. I suppose she's trying to protect me too? After all, Ladybug knows best.”

“Rainie-”

Sabrina glared him into silence, then drew in a deep breath. “Maybe Dad was right!” she shrieked. “I should never have let you in that evening. All you’ve caused for me is trouble. My dad’s been akumatised _again_ , it was nearly _me_ … Everyone’s keeping secrets and telling me what’s best for me, when all I want to know is what’s going _on!”_

“Sabrina-”

“Why are you so obsessed with saving me? Why am I so special? Where does Nino keep running off to? _Why is everyone so convinced I can’t keep secrets?”_

“Brini-”

“ _WHAT?”_ Sabrina turned on Carapace, who took a step back. Her temper suddenly cooled, her brain tugging at her. “Wait… what did you just call me?”

Carapace smiled. “I called you Brini, Rainie. I… I think it’s time I stop keeping secrets from you.”

“What are you…”

Carapace held out his arm. The final segment on his bracelet began to flash.

Sabrina looked at him, her eyes widening.

"I trust you with this secret," Carapace said. "I hope it makes things a bit more clear for you."

"Wait- _no_ -"

"Wayzz,” Carapace said quietly, “shell off.”


	9. Chapter 9

Sabrina averted her eyes from the blaze of green light, and even when it faded, she kept her head turned.

“Rainie,” a familiar voice said, full of sympathy. “You can look.”

“Is this wise, Master?” another voice chipped in. “Ladybug-”

“Ladybug doesn’t need to know. Come on, Bri, look at me.”

Sabrina slowly turned her head. Now, in the moment, she had a funny feeling that she knew who she was going to see, but seeing Nino standing in Carapace’s place wasn’t any less jolting for it.

“N-Nino?” she asked incredulously, barely taking in the little green creature hovering next to his ear. “ _You’re_ Carapace?”

Nino chuckled. “Yeah, uh… sorry. I’ve wanted to tell you for weeks, but you know, Ladyb-”

Sabrina hurled herself forward. “You _idiot!”_ she shrieked, slamming her fist into his chest. “I’ve been feeling so worried, so guilty about liking two boys at the same time and this whole time you were _both of them_?”

Nino backed away as she continued swinging at him. “Hey, I didn’t mean to-” He caught her wrist, trying to hold her in place. “Brini, hear me out, ok?”

“I am not listening to _anything_ you have to say!” Sabrina said shrilly. “What were you thinking, Nino?” She stopped striking at him, just looking at him as the full truth washed over her. “How was I supposed to react?”

Nino gripped her wrist gently and lowered it to her side, making sure she wasn’t going to strike out again before he let go. “Sabrina, I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was making you feel bad, you know? I thought I was just checking in on you, and then I liked meeting you all over again, getting to know you as someone else. I suppose it did go too far.”

“That’s quite the understatement,” Sabrina said flatly. Still, part of her couldn’t help but feel secretly pleased. In his new hero guise he could have had his pick of girls, but he’d chosen to romance her all over again.

Unaware of her thoughts, Nino shrugged apologetically. “I don’t know what to say, Bri. I was selfish.” He cracked a weak grin. “And I… wanted hot chocolate and ginger biscuits?”

“I did warn you that you would cause trouble, Master,” the little green creature chimed in.

“Yeah.” Nino looked sheepish. “Sorry I ignored you, bro.”

“That’s OK, Master. But maybe you should listen next time.”

“Will do.” Nino looked back at Sabrina, who was watching him intently, her eyes still burning. “Uh… Bri? You alright?”

Sabrina grasped his collar and kissed him fiercely, shortly, pulling back quickly to glare at him. “You’re an idiot,” she growled. “But we can talk this out when my dad isn’t a huge rabid bear-monster running around Paris.”

“Right. Yeah, almost forgot about that.” Nino started patting his pockets down, frowning. “Um… I don’t think I have any lettuce.”

“Lettuce?”

“Yeah, for Wayzz.” Nino jerked his chin at the little turtle. “He’s my kwami, remember, I told you about him. He needs to eat something, preferably lettuce, to recharge his energy before I can transform again.”

“But I’m not picky,” Wayzz hastened to add. “Almost any purely plant-based supplement will do in a pinch.”

Sabrina glanced down at herself instinctively, then shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry, I don’t exactly carry around salads in my nightdresses.”

“We’ll have to go and find something.” Nino looked around. “But I don’t think many shops will be open at this time of night. We might have to just nab some flowers from someone’s garden.”

Wayzz wiggled his way under Nino’s hat, his eyelids drooping. “We’d better hurry, Master.” Before he disappeared, though, he declared indignantly, “And remember, I won’t eat dandelions!”

Nino chuckled at the look Sabrina gave him. “Come on,” he said, starting to walk towards the end of the alley. “And keep an eye out for your… bear-dad.”

Sabrina gave him an unamused glare, but followed him out of the alley, occasionally hearing her father’s angry roars drifting across the rooftops.

 

_Where is she?_

Surpronstre swiped at the running figure, growling as it dissipated into smoke. But that was the last of the illusions. So where was the real green hero? Where was his real cub?

He sat back on his haunches, glaring around him. He could see the bright shape of the yellow hero a few rooves across, but she seemed to just be watching him for now. The others had disappeared, like his quarry.

The voice in his mind did not chip in with any instructions, so Surpronstre settled for scraping his claws across the roof tiles, calming himself so that his body shrunk to a more manoeuvrable size. He knew the voice wanted him to hunt the red and black heroes. But he wouldn’t. He needed to find his cub first.

He twitched his ears, still keeping an eye on the yellow hero. He could hear footsteps. A set on the roof near him, and two more sets further away, on the ground.

Surpronstre got to his paws. He pounced down from the roof, smooth and limber, and headed towards the footsteps on the ground. He was much smaller now, more stealthy, and sniffing the air he recognised the scent of his cub. Folding his ears back, he hurried along the street, pressed close to the buildings.

 

Somehow, Sabrina found herself walking hand in hand with Carapace down a pretty, affluent street. They stayed in the shadow of the buildings, but the streetlamps made it difficult to be invisible. Her father’s akuma had fallen silent, which allowed her to hope that maybe he had been de-akumatised.

“Rena will have de-transformed as well by now,” Nino murmured thoughtfully. “I hope she brought bacon bits with her.”

“What?”

“Oh, that’s what Trixx eats,” Nino said. “Her kwami. Ignore me, I’m just thinking out loud.”

“Maybe that’s not the best idea when there’s a monster hunting for us,” Sabrina whispered sarcastically, but she squeezed his hand and smiled when he glanced at her.

“Hey, there’s some flowers,” Nino whispered a minute later. A little cluster of daffodils was growing in a planter across the road. He reached up and tapped his hat, and Wayzz peered out from beneath it sleepily.

“Daffies?” Nino questioned. Wayzz tipped his head.

“They’re tolerable,” the kwami responded. “Not my favourite, though.”

“OK, well, that’s what we’ve got,” Nino told him. Slipping his hand free of Sabrina’s with a backward glance, he swiftly hurried across the street and grabbed at the flowers.

Sabrina watched the rooftops nervously. When Nino got back to her, she ushered him into a front garden, beneath a tall conifer. “Hurry,” she said. “I don’t know what the rules of his powers are, he could be sneaking around anywhere.”

Wayzz perched himself on Nino’s shoulder, and Nino proffered a flower. Watching the little turtle strip off the petals, Sabrina didn’t notice Nino holding something out until it brushed her chin.

“I got one for you too,” Nino whispered. “Not to eat, obviously, but uh, I know you like them.” Sabrina looked down at the yellow bloom, and smiled, before a faint scuffling caught her attention. Turning her head sharply, she saw movement further down the street. Something large and furry was slowly making its way down the opposite pavement, its head swaying from side to side, tasting the air. Slowly, she turned her head back towards Nino.

“He’s here,” she hissed, grasping Nino’s hand. “On the other side of the road.”

Nino glanced over her shoulder, and then down at Wayzz. “Quick, little dude!”

“I’m eatinf ath fatht ath I can, Mathter,” Wayzz mumbled, shoving another petal into his mouth.

The sound of scraping claws stopped opposite them, and then started towards them, across the road. Sabrina shoved Nino further back into the foliage.

She could hear the akuma sniffing at the fence, a low growl in his throat.

“I’m ready,” Wayzz said quietly behind her.

Sabrina squeezed Nino’s hand and turned her head to interrupt him, murmuring “Wait,” but she was too slow to intercept his hurried whisper.

“Wayzz, shell on.”

A blaze of green light flooded the garden, and the monster outside roared, plunging into the foliage. Desperately, Sabrina shoved the newly transformed Carapace out from beneath the tree. “Go!” she called. “Get the others, I’ll distract him!”

Carapace hesitated a second, his amber eyes fearful and caring in equal measure, and a huge paw slashed at him. He dodged, and jumped up to the roof. To her relief, Sabrina heard him shouting into his communicator as he ran away across the tiles.

She dodged the flailing paws of the akuma, which seemed to be trying to fight the huge conifer tree. Hopping the fence into the street, she started to run, hearing a furious growl and the sound of splintering wood behind her.

Lights clicked on in the houses along the street as the tree toppled, and faces began to appear at the windows. A few slid windows open and called to her, but she ignored them, spinning around in the middle of the street to face the akuma.

The creature came swishing towards her, not growling now. Unsure of any plan for a distraction, Sabrina raised her hands tentatively as her father’s akuma bore down on her- before something slammed into her from one side.

Queen Bee dragged her skyward. “Ladybug wants to see you,” she said sharply. “And whatever it’s for, it better be quick. I need my beauty sleep.”

Ladybug was standing with Carapace a few streets away. “I need your help,” she explained even before Sabrina’s feet had touched the ground. “Rena and Chat can distract the akuma for a little while, but I have a plan to get the object away from him.” As Queen Bee dropped Sabrina unceremoniously next to her, Ladybug looked up. “Bee, go and help them.”

Queen Bee darted away grumpily without a word, and Ladybug looked at Sabrina. “This plan hinges on your assistance,” the spotted heroine said frankly. “Carapace tells me that you managed to calm the akuma and stop him attacking.”

“Yes,” Sabrina agreed nervously. “But I don’t know if it’ll work again… I had to surprise him last time to get leverage over him. He might not listen again.”

“Do you think he would attack you?”

Sabrina thought for a moment. “No. Almost everything he’s done so far has been an attempt to protect me from everyone else.” She glanced at Carapace. “Especially Carapace. There’s no other reason he would have tried to take Carapace’s miraculous, right? Hawk Moth doesn’t want the turtle Miraculous.”

Ladybug shook her head. “I think Hawk Moth would take any Miraculous he could get his hands on.”

“But the akuma didn’t have the-” Carapace indicated a messy butterfly mask over his face. “The glowing mask thing. When he was trying to take my Miraculous. So it was the akuma doing that on his own.”

Ladybug looked thoughtful. “This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been messing around with Sabrina in your disguise.”

“Don’t you start, I’ve already had that from Wayzz tonight,” Carapace complained.

Sabrina chuckled. “Well he had a point, Nino, you-” She paused. Ladybug had stiffened, looking between them.

“She knows,” Ladybug said flatly.

“My transformation ran out before I could find somewhere to hide her,” Carapace shrugged. “My bad.”

“Nino!” Ladybug shrilled, before pressing her fingers to her temple. “Never mind. We’ll talk about this later. If you think you can trust Sabrina to keep this a secret, then I suppose I’ll have to trust your judgement.”

“I know Sabrina can keep secrets,” Carapace defended. “It’s not like my weakness for gingerbread lattes ever hit the news.”

“What?” Ladybug asked, as Sabrina and Carapace shared a brief spell of laughter. Then Ladybug’s yoyo beeped, and all three of them stopped to look at it.

“Ladybug!” Rena’s voice came through the communicator, sounding strained. “That plan can come any day now! This guy is seriously powerful!”

“Sorry, I’ll be right there!” Ladybug responded, and hung up, meeting Sabrina’s eyes. “If you can get close to the akuma without being attacked, you’re still doing better than any of us,” Ladybug told her. “I wouldn’t ask unless it was necessary, Sabrina; I don’t like having civilians involved in our battles. But this akuma is proving difficult to handle, and you might be our only chance for an advantage.”

“Do we need another Miraculous?” Carapace asked with barely disguised excitement. “Because I’ve been reading the book, I think I know the perfect-”

“No,” Ladybug cut him off, but she was smiling. “I think five Miraculouses will suffice for this battle. Besides, a Miraculous might stop the akuma recognising her as Sabrina.”

Carapace deflated, crestfallen, and Sabrina tipped her head curiously. Did the heroes have even more Miraculouses at their disposal? Carapace had talked about there being more in the world, but she had assumed there were only six in Paris.

She didn’t have time to muse further as Ladybug tossed her yoyo upwards, calling for her Lucky Charm. An extremely thick rubber band fell into her hands.

Ladybug looked at it for a few seconds before her eyes brightened. To Sabrina’s surprise, Ladybug passed her the Charm.

“OK,” Ladybug said, tipping her head inward conspiratorially. “Here’s the plan.”

 

By the time they reached the scene of the battle, Queen Bee’s Swarm clones were darting ineffectively around the akuma, which had swollen to the size of an elephant in its fury. Rena was catching her breath a short distance away, and Chat was standing beside her, wincing and holding his left foot off the ground. Ladybug set Sabrina down beside them and nodded to her before helping Chat out of the way. Rena and Carapace withdrew to a rooftop, and as Queen Bee’s clones faded, she too disengaged, casting a glance at Sabrina as she joined the other heroes.

The akuma seemed momentarily confused by the disappearance of his attackers, spinning around suspiciously, before his eyes alighted on Sabrina, standing alone in the street.

She held her hands behind her, playing anxiously with the spotted band. As soon as he saw her, the akuma appeared to relax. He shrunk in size and began to approach. Sabrina smiled at him, ignoring the rapid hammering of her heart.

The akuma made a strange rumbling sound as it reached her, almost a purr, but the butterfly mask quickly flickered over his eyes. Sabrina heard a rapid footstep on the roof where Carapace stood, but it stopped as the akuma growled and shook his head, dispelling the mask.

Sabrina reached out her hand cautiously, and the monster approached readily, sniffing her hand, then making a strange, happy sound and headbutting it.

“This is so _weird,_ ” Sabrina whispered out loud, recognising her father’s eyes set in the monstrous furry face. All of the aggression was gone; he was still the size of a lion, but now his eyes just gleamed with affection and protectiveness. Once more, as she once had when Rogercop had stepped into her classroom, she saw her father behind the shell of the akuma.

When she shifted her hand down towards his mouth, though, the eyes grew wary. She tightened her grip on the lucky charm behind her, stretching the thick band between her fingers. She quickly gave his muzzle a reassuring scratch, and he relaxed.

She slowly brought the band forward, slipping both hands into it and stretching it out. She placed both hands on his snout, and he flinched.

The butterfly mask flickered over his eyes again, and he shied back. Sabrina acted fast, driving her hands forward and sliding the band over his jaws, pulling her hands free to leave his mouth bound shut.

The monster shook his head furiously, using his front paws to scrabble at the band with the butterfly mask still glowing, but the heroes were already inbound from every direction. Chat and Queen Bee landed on his back, forcing him to the ground, and Rena and Carapace secured his front legs, leaving his hind paws to scrabble ineffectively on the road. His body tried to expand, but the band seemed to prevent it, restricting his jaws from growing any larger.

Sabrina exhaled at last as Ladybug landed beside her. “Nice job,” Ladybug. “We couldn’t have got that on him without your help.” She looked at the thrashing akuma. “I need you to do one last thing, though.”

Sabrina nodded, and Ladybug moved over to the akuma. Carefully, the spotted heroine placed her hands on his jaws. “You’re the only one he won’t bite,” she explained.

“Oh.” Sabrina looked nervously at the huge teeth. Ladybug didn’t say anything else, just began to pry open the monster’s jaws, the band straining. The akuma gave a strangled growl, but Chat held his head in place to stop him thrashing, and both of them looked at Sabrina.

The mug was near the back of his mouth, tucked against a back tooth. Nervously, Sabrina moved closer.

“It’s ok to be scared, Sabrina, but… can you please hurry?” Ladybug said, reassuring, but with an edge of tension creeping into her voice. “I can’t keep this held open for very long, and I’m going to detransform soon.”

“Hurry it up!” Queen Bee agreed as her comb gave a flurry of beeps.

Sabrina reached her hand out tentatively. Ladybug flinched as the mask appeared over the akuma’s face again, and the akuma’s jaws snapped shut, an inch from Sabrina’s fingers. Sabrina hopped backwards in alarm.

“Sorry,” Ladybug grunted, pushing his jaw open again. The mask stayed over the akuma’s face, glowing fiercely, and Ladybug’s arms shook with the exertion of keeping his jaw from slamming down.

Sabrina darted forward quickly, meeting the akuma’s gaze. She reached for the mug, keeping her eyes locked on his, even as the mask shone brighter.

The akuma winced, a tear building in the corner of his eye, and the jaw shook. The mask’s glow grew more and more insistent, and as Sabrina grasped the mug handle and started to withdraw it, the akuma started to whimper in apparent pain, screwing his eyes closed

Sabrina whisked the mug away as fast as she could, but the akuma’s teeth came down too fast, clamping onto the mug and shattering it as Sabrina shrieked. The butterfly mask vanished. Ladybug let go, and the akuma’s head thumped onto the ground, shards of pottery sticking out of his jaws.

“Rainie!” Carapace let go of the akuma’s leg and hurried over to her; she was clasping her hands, her eyes wide. He pulled her hands apart, and was relieved to see them both intact, aside from a little slash on her right knuckle.

“I’m ok,” Sabrina whispered. “A bit of the mug just scratched me.”

They looked down as a black butterfly crawled out of the monster’s mouth, then frantically tried to take to the air. “I don’t think so,” Ladybug said, tossing out her yoyo and neatly capturing the fluttering insect.

After purifying the akuma, she pulled the band off the unresisting akuma’s jaws and tossed it skyward. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

Sabrina looked down as a little swirl of ladybugs covered her hand, healing the slash completely. Then she watched as dark energy evaporated from the monster’s form, leaving her father lying in the road in his dressing gown.

Carapace let her go, and Sabrina ran to her father. “Dad!” she cried, shaking him gently. He looked up, dazed, the mug back in one piece in front of him.

“What happened?” he asked. “I just remember... wait… there was a butterfly in your room!” He hurriedly got to his feet. “I tried to stop it, where did it-” He suddenly realised where he was, looking at the heroes surrounding him. His shoulders slumped. “It got me instead, didn’t it?” he asked. He looked down at Sabrina. “I couldn’t think of any other way to stop it reaching you, so I just… blocked it with the mug.” He sighed. “I thought this might happen, but it was better that it was me… than you again.”

“You did a brave thing, sir,” Chat said. “Trying to stop the akuma reaching its target. Not everyone would have tried something like that.”

“I did what any father would have done,” Roger deferred.

Chat didn’t say anything to that, so Ladybug stepped forward. “Sabrina, you were a great help tonight,” she said. She extended her fist, and Sabrina mutely accepted the fist bump, partly just out of habit from her games with Chloe.

Ladybug smiled, and her earrings gave a shrill beep. “Well, we have to go now, but we won’t forget your resourcefulness.” She punched Carapace’s arm playfully. “Don’t let this one go, Shelly.” She slung her yoyo, and sprang away, Queen Bee quickly following in her wake.

“I don’t plan to,” Carapace said quietly, but he glanced at Roger nervously.

“Will you be okay to get home from here, or would you like an escort?” Rena asked Roger.

“That might be best,” Roger agreed. He looked at Carapace uncertainly.

“I’ll go,” Carapace volunteered immediately. Chat looked sharply at him, but Carapace looked back. “It’s my turn anyway,” he said. Chat still frowned, but when Roger offered no objection, he and Rena muttered their goodbyes and left.

They were silent on the walk back to the Raincomprix home, Roger keeping Sabrina close to him and Carapace leading the way. As soon as they got into the house, Roger turned to his daughter.

“You can go to bed now, Sabrina… we’ll talk about this tomorrow, all right?”

Sabrina looked ready to protest, but instead she yawned. She looked at Carapace, though, her eyes glittering happily. Carapace desperately wanted to kiss her again, but with her father right there he didn’t dare.

“Sweet dreams, Rainie,” he said instead.

When Sabrina had gone, Roger stepped into the living room. “Have a seat,” he said.

Carapace awkwardly sat down on the sofa, and Roger sat down on his armchair, turning the mug over in his hands.

“This is my favourite mug,” Roger said gruffly. “She gave it to me when she was seven. It’s the only one I ever use.”

Carapace stayed silent, just listening. He had comforted akuma victims before who had been angry, or vengeful, or disappointed with themselves, or who had just cried. Roger, though, seemed to just want to talk.

“The Only Superhero I Know Is My Dad.” Roger mused. “I loved it at the time because I liked to think it was true.” He chuckled humourlessly. “I guess it’s doubly not true now.”

“Sir,” Carapace spoke up. “You might not have superpowers, but what you did for your daughter tonight was something we haven’t seen before. You wilfully chose to be akumatised yourself rather than allow Hawk Moth to akumatise your daughter.”

“I wouldn’t say chose,” Roger pointed out. “But there was nothing else I could have thought to do. I couldn’t stop Hawk Moth from reaching her last time because I wasn’t there. But this time, I was, and I couldn’t just lie down and see it happen again. She is all I have now; keeping her safe is all that I think about.”

“I think about that too,” Carapace said quietly.

Roger looked challengingly at him, and their eyes met for a long moment before Roger sighed. “I know there are other people who care for Sabrina, and who can protect her, maybe better than I can. But…” He trailed off, looking at the mug again. Carapace waited, and Roger eventually continued.

“It’s hard to let go of the time when I was the only one who could make her feel truly safe,” he murmured. He lifted the mug, as if tempted to smash it down, but he didn’t.

“Don’t,” Carapace got to his feet. “Keep it.” He forced down a yawn, the aches of the battle and late hour falling onto him. It appeared to have caught up with Roger too, as he allowed his own yawn to escape. Carapace crossed the room to cautiously reach for Roger's arm in a comforting touch, making Roger snap out of his thoughts. "I'll leave you to sleep now, sir, but I will gladly return if you need to talk.” He hesitated. “And I do deeply care for your daughter. I will respect that you want me to stay away, but I’ll still keep an eye on her. She’s a special girl.”

“She is,” Roger agreed.

“And it’s because of you that she’s sleeping peacefully tonight rather than kept awake with akuma nightmares,” Carapace added. “Not because of me, or Ladybug, or Chat, but you.” He cracked a grin. “That makes you a hero in my book.”

Roger didn’t return the smile, or even look up from the mug, but he spoke as Carapace turned to leave. “Thank you, Carapace.” As Carapace opened the door, he raised his voice more authoritatively. “And I… won’t be putting that safety lock on any time soon.”

There was a moment of understanding, before Carapace looked back. “Yes, sir.”

Carapace went home in high spirits; a huge weight had been lifted from his mind. Roger had relented, a little, and even better, Sabrina knew his identity and she was okay with it. She liked both sides of him the same. The thought gave him solace, and once home he quickly found sleep, almost too quickly to drop his transformation. Wayzz nestled into his hair, holding off on the lecture until they had both had some rest.

 

Sabrina was not at school the day after, and nobody seemed surprised, since the chatter about the late-night monster akuma was heavy as Nino arrived at school, with students and news reporters alike disagreeing on whether Roger trying to intercept the akuma had been brave or stupid. As the day continued and she did not call or message him, though, he grew a little concerned.

At the end of the day he was hovering on the steps of the school, waiting for Alya or Adrien to join him, when a police car pulled up to the pavement nearby. Sabrina got out first, but Roger followed, the pair of them seeming to be in high spirits.

Nino watched them as Sabrina glanced around. When she spotted him she ran over to him eagerly, engulfing him in an enthusiastic hug and kissing him briefly on the cheek.

“I was hoping you’d still be here!” she said. Behind her, Roger steadily made his way over, and Nino kept a nervous eye on him. Even though Carapace had improved himself in Roger’s eyes, he didn’t know how he stood as Nino. And as always, Sabrina’s policeman father cut an imposing figure. It was hard not to remember the angry confrontation after Princess Rainy.

When he arrived, though, Roger just smiled amicably. “Hello, Nino.”

“Hello, sir,” Nino said tentatively.

Roger waved his hand. “Lieutenant Roger is fine.”

“Daaad,” Sabrina raised her eyebrow.

Roger huffed. “Fine. You can just call me Roger.”

Sabrina beamed at Nino. “He’s just sulking because this was supposed to be our day, but I wanted to see you. I knew you’d be worried after last night.” Her eyes warned him to play along, and Nino hastily nodded. It wasn’t a lie, after all.

“I heard that you tried to stop the akuma,” he said to Roger. “That was seriously brave, dude- I mean, Roger.”

“As I’ve been saying all day,” Roger said tiredly, “It was what any parent would do. But thank you.”

“Anyway, we’re here to invite you to join us for our last activity!” Sabrina trilled. “We’re going to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.” She winked at Nino, out of sight of her father. “Someone told me the gingerbread hot chocolate is really good.”

“You’ve really turned around on the hot chocolate debate,” Roger commented as he turned back towards the car. Sabrina shot a sidelong look at Nino. “Although those fancy concoctions Chloe likes never seemed very appealing when you brought them home.”

“Yeah, I actually really like it when it’s simple, without all the fancy additions,” Sabrina shrugged, slipping her hand into Nino’s. “Although I can appreciate a few marshmallows as well.” Her fingers played idly with his bracelet for a second, before settling into his grip again.

Nino smiled down at her, and Roger’s face softened as he turned around to open the car door for them. “Come on,” he said. “Now I really need to try that hot chocolate.”

Sabrina giggled, and as he settled on the car seat beside her, Nino couldn’t help but join in. “Don’t forget the ginger biscuits,” he added as Roger started the engine.

“And exactly seven marshmallows,” Sabrina said seriously.

“The perfect combination,” Nino agreed, squeezing her hand in his.

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hgggghhh it's finally done
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's been along for the ride! I know I've had a couple long hiatuses but I really wanted to get this finished for you guys.


End file.
